Warriors: The Demon Clans 5: Gathering of Specials
by Liza Taylor
Summary: Two moons since Milkpaw left, the new warrior Flameclaw is finally ready to leave to find the specials. Getting help from Twilight, being led by Flightwing, Flameclaw is sure he will reach them in time. Or will he?
1. Prologue

**Yay! It's Demon Clans 5! I can't believe I was able to write this story for so long. Anyway, here's the prologue!**

_Flamepaw was in a large open field. Above him, in the dark sky shone thousands of stars, the light from them bathing the field in a soft glow. A soft wind blew from nowhere gently stroking his orange fur. Sitting on the grass in front of him was Flightwing. The she-cat's brown fur was a few shades lighter than the pair of bird wings that sprouted from her back. _

_Flamepaw's golden eyes watched Flightwing intently. "I hope you have a plan." He remembered his brother, Milkpaw, flying out of camp using black wings. The power he had copied from Flightwing. His brother was a special like him. Only, unlike Flamepaw, whose power was to be able to leave his body and travel around at will, his brother had the ability to copy the power of another special. _

_"We will stop him," promised Flightwing, "I won't let my friends die because of that cat." The fire in her eyes reduced. "There's nothing we can do about it now though. You are terribly injured in the real world. You would not be able to travel very far at this rate."_

_"But we have to do something!" cried Flamepaw, stepping towards her. "They are your friends! What if he steals their power!"_

_"Don't you think I know that!" cried Flightwing, startling Flamepaw. She looked down. "I hate not being alive. I can't do anything to really help them. But…you cannot go out and find them in your condition. The best thing for you is rest."_

_"But what if he finds them when I'm resting!" complained Flamepaw, "Then what?"_

_"He doesn't know where they are," said Flightwing, "No one knows where they truly are but me. It will take him a long time to find them. We have time to rest."_

_"Alright…"_

Flamepaw woke with a start. It was that dream again. The same dream for the past two moons. _"Guess she doesn't want me to forget,"_ he thought stretching.

"Watch it Flameclaw," snapped Jumpsky, as he hit her in the side.

"Sorry," said Flameclaw, suddenly remembering that he was a warrior now. Barely a moon ago, Flamepaw was well enough to return to training. After an assessment, Cloudstar deemed that he was worthy enough to become a warrior. _"I'm going to have to leave soon,"_ he thought, remembering another conversation he had with Flightwing a while back.

_"Flamepaw. I don't think you should travel alone."_

_"What do you mean? I'll be find by myself."_

_Flightwing shook her head, "You won't be. You have never been out of the clan borders. It's a lot harder to live out there than within the borders." She took a deep breath, "Don't be mad, but I talked to Twilight. I explained the situation the best I could and he is going to join you."_

_Flamepaw's mouth dropped in shock. "Twilight? As in the fox? Why?"_

_"Hear me out," pleaded Flightwing, "Twilight knows a lot about the outside world. He can help you. He can make sure you don't die on this trip."  
Flamepaw looked away. He thought he would get to be the big hero and save the other specials. He knew that was selfish._ _"Okay."_

_"Good. Go talk to him once you know you are feeling better."_

Flameclaw glanced at his mother, fast asleep in the center of the sleeping warriors. _"I'm sorry,"_ he thought, _"You had to deal with Milkpaw disappearing, and now you have to deal with me doing the same."_

He crawled out of the warriors den and took a deep breath of the morning air. He looked around, trying to soak up every inch of the camp. He didn't know when he would be back, or if he would be back at all. _"This is not the time to be getting cold paws."_

He turned his back on the camp and left quickly. Once in the forest, he ran as fast as he could. He didn't want to take it slow. He didn't want to find an excuse that would make him change his mind. He promised Flightwing he would help.

"There you are," said Twilight, jumping off the fallen log he had been sitting on. He was taking a big risk, waiting inside of Flameclan territory.

"Sorry," said Flameclaw, "Let's go."


	2. Alligences

A L L E G I A N C E S

**N I G H T C L A N**

Leader **Scarstar­**- black tabby tom with a scar running down his left eye

Deputy **Blacktail**- pure black tom

Medicine Cat **Skysong**-light gray she-cat

Warriors (toms and she-cats without kits)

**Silverstorm**- silver-gray she-cat with blue eyes

**Twilight**- red fox

**Birchstorm**- chocolate brown she-cat

**Owlfeather-** brown tabby tom

**Apprentice-Foxpaw**

**Ruby**- red she-fox. Daughter of Twilight.

**Apprentice-Darkpaw**

**Thorntail**- black tom

**Flightfeather**- brown she-cat

**Addertail-**black tom with a white paw

Apprentices (more than six moons old, in training to become

warriors)

**Darkpaw**-gray tom

**Foxpaw**-brown she-cat

Queens (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)

**Sparrowtail**­- little brown she-cat

(Heatherkit-brown, Ravenkit-black)

Elders ( former warriors and queens, now retired)

**Spiderpelt**- black she-cat with long legs

**Silentheart**- rose gray she-cat. Is mute

**Bramblepelt**- brown tom with black stripes and blue eyes

**Morningsun**- brown she-cat

S T R E A M C L A N

Leader **Tallstar**- long legged tabby tom

Deputy **Dappletail**- tortoise shell she-cat

Medicine Cat **Rabbitstripe**- red tom

**Apprentice-Ivypaw**

Warriors

**Crowtail**- gray tom with blue eyes

**Marshtail**- silver tom with blotches of black

**Dreamwhisker**- gray she-cat

**Ashfire**- ash colored tom

**Dewfeather**- gray tom

**Rosefang**- rose gray she-cat

**Apprentice-Larchpaw**

**Mouseleaf**- brown tabby she-cat

**Firefur- **orange tom

Apprentices

**Ivypaw-** pale gray she-cat

**Larchpaw**- tan brown tom

Queens

**Greyfur**- gray tabby she-cat

Elders

**Snakepelt**- orange tom with golden eyes

**Runningclaw**- light black tom

F L A M E C L A N

Leader **Cloudstar**- white tom

Deputy **Brackentail**- pure white tom

Medicine Cat** Swanpaw**- pure white she-cat with blue eyes

**Apprentice-Brookpaw**

Warriors

**Gorgestorm**- brown tom

**Spottedclaw**- orange she-cat with black spots and golden eyes

**Eggflame**- dark gray tom

**Apprentice-Bonepaw**

**Rainstorm**- gray tom

**Jumpsky**-yellow she-cat

**Bushwhisker**- gray she-cat

**Finchfur**- brown tom with blue eyes

**Apprentice-Mudpaw**

**Flameclaw-** bright orange tom with golden eyes. Can astral project.

Apprentices

**Brookpaw**- gray she-cat

**Mudpaw**-gray tom

**Bonepaw**-white tom

Queens

**Ashfur**- ash colored she-cat

(Brackenkit-brown, Lionkit-gray)

Elders

**Silvertail**- gray tom with a silver tail.

**Heartfall**- brown she-cat with a white chest

T R E E C L A N

Leader **Cedarstar-** dusky brown tom

Deputy **Streampelt**- silver tabby tom

Medicine Cat **Barkwind**- bark brown tom

**Apprentice- Faithpaw**

Warriors

**Leopardfang**- unusually spotted she-cat

**Voletail-**small brown tom

**Apprentice, Grasspaw**

**Sorrelpelt**- brown she-cat

**Heartpool**- brown tabby she-cat

**Starfoot**- gray she-cat with black markings. Comes from Duskclan

**Apprentice- Gingerpaw**

**Pebbletail**- gray tom with scars across his face and chest with green eyes

**Amberheart**- striped she-cat

**Stonepelt- **gray tom

**Soottail**- black tom

Apprentices

**Faithpaw**- white she-cat with black paws

**Gingerpaw**- ginger tom

**Grasspaw**- dark brown tabby tom

Queens

**Tigerstripe**- orange striped she-cat

(Snowkit-gray, Russetkit-red)

**Silverwhisker**- pregnant silver she-cat

Elders

**Galewind**- brown tom with a huge scar across his shoulders. Retired early due to shoulder pains.

C A T S O U T S I D E

O F C L A N S

**Firewind**- bright orange tom with green eyes. Can breath fire. Formerly Flameclan special

**Auraclaw**- brown tabby she-cat with brown eyes. Has physic abilities. Formerly Treeclan special

**Scalefur**- bluish gray tom with webbed paws and gills and blue eyes. Formerly Streamclan special

**Cinderstream**- cinder colored she-cat with amber eyes. Can heal injuries Formerly Nightclan medicine cat

**Hazelpaw**- pale gray tom with green eyes. Can make electricity emit from his body. Formerly Nightclan special

**Sandstream**- pale ginger she-cat.

**Smokeclaw**- smoke colored tom

**Milkpaw**- white tom with green eyes. Can copy abilities of other specials

**Frank**- red kittypet

**Snow**- white she-cat

**Sky**- brown tom

**Streak**- black-white tom

**Twilight**- white she-cat

**Hazel**- brown tom

**Kalo**-silver she-cat

**Crystal**- red fox. Twilight's mate

S T A R C L A N

**Lionstar**-tabby tom with a furry neck

**Robinfang**- gray tom with black stripes

**Darkpaw**- coal black tom

**Grayfang**- gray she-cat

**Windsky**- orange she-cat with dark flecks. Can control wind

**Visionfur**- dark gray she-cat with golden eyes Has premonitions.

**Applemind- **brown tom with white spots. Can read minds.

**Lilystream**- pure white she-cat with blue eyes. Can shoot porcupine quills out of fur. Formerly known as Lilystar

D E P A R T E D N O N S T A R C L A N C A T S

**Flightwing**- light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes and brown wings growing out of her back

**Nightspeaker**- gray she-cat with green eyes. Can control minds

**Brightsky- **tall white she-cat with rings of ginger around her tail, legs and paws with large ears and amber eyes. Can control light

**Skypelt**- light orange tom with sky blue eyes. Can control his shadow at will

**Shadepaw**- small brown she-cat with light green eyes. Can sense the feelings of anyone around her.

**Wingtorn**- gray tom. Can go through objects

R O U G E D E P A R T E D C A T S

**Risingdawn­- **gray tom with black stripes and blue eyes. Can make illusions

**Silverfur**- silver she-cat. Can control her blood at will.

**Rowanclaw**- tabby tom with a mattered coat and scars. Can create copies of himself at will

**Hailstorm**- black tom with blue eyes. Can create and control ice

**Longfur**- long haired brown tom. Can control fur at will

**Mindclaw**-golden brown tom covered in scars. Can put memories in other cats


	3. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1.**

Flameclaw

Flameclaw looked up at the dark clouds hanging overhead. He wondered if Flightwing was walking through the clouds wherever she was. Or did Starclan cats walk in a different setting?

"Flameclaw!"

Twilight grabbed Flameclaw by the scruff and yanked the orange tom back just as a monster screeched by on the thunderpath before them.

"Thanks Twilight," said Flameclaw. Images ran through his head of his body being smashed against the thunderpath. He wondered if he could leave his body before that happened. But then what would he do? What would happen if his body was dying and he wasn't in it? Would he die or be stuck and unable to talk to anyone?

"You need to pay attention to your surroundings," said Twilight, "One more step and that monster would have run you over."

Flameclaw silently hit himself over and over. How could he forget? He was no longer on Flameclan territory. There were dangers out here that he would never have to face back at home. "I'm sorry Twilight."

"Don't worry about it. Now. Let's see if we can cross yet." Twilight glanced back and forth checking both ways of the thunderpath. "Good. No monsters in sight. Let's get across now and quickly."

Flameclaw nodded and ran onto the thunderpath. Twilight was right next to him, keeping pace with his long legs. When they reached the other side, Flameclaw glanced back to make sure they were really across. It felt too fast.

"Well, that's one thunderpath down," said Twilight cheerfully. "Many more to go. Honestly I can't believe I actually agreed to go with you. I still can't believe I dreamt of a Starclan cat with wings. That was really odd."

Flameclaw nodded, "Yeah. It must have been surprising." Flameclaw was surprised by the fact that Twilight agreed to go along on this trip. He voiced his question.

Twilight shrugged, "I think she seemed familiar. Like I knew her somehow. I even asked her about it. She didn't really give me a straight answer. Only said that I would remember when we reach the place with these cats you are looking for."

Flameclaw nodded and looked away. From what Flightwing had told him, Twilight knew nothing about the powers part of it. All Twilight thought was going on was that Milkpaw was going to attack a group of ex-clan cats and Flameclaw was chosen to go warn them.

"Anyway," said Twilight, looking at the huge collection of twolegged nests before them. "This town is going to take us a while to get through. I hope it doesn't rain before we get a chance to find shelter."

"Town," repeated Flameclaw. The weird word for a huge collection of twolegged nests.

"That's what Crystal called them anyway," said the fox, "Okay. Let's get going. Remember to stay on the sidewalk. Twoleggeds hate it when you enter their small strip of territory. Remember to stay off the thunderpath too. Don't want monsters to run you over."

Flameclaw nodded and followed Twilight onto the hard gray surface. In some places the sidewalk was cracked and small plants were growing. This was the scariest thing he had ever done. He expected a twolegged to attack him at any moment.

"Well, look at that. We're in luck Flameclaw."

Twilight crossed into the territory of a small twolegged nest. The nest was falling apart, holes were cut into the roof. "It's an abandoned nest. We can stay here until the clouds above release all their rain."

Flameclaw just nodded in agreement. He knew nothing about living out here. He was suddenly grateful to Flightwing. When she had first told him that they needed to cross a twolegged town to get to where the specials were he almost died right there on the spot.

"Come on Flameclaw!"

Flameclaw returned his attention to the present and followed Twilight's bushy tail into the nest. The inside was bare except for some small plants growing through the wooden floor. The holes in the roof let shapes of light enter.

"This is a perfect spot," said Twilight from the corner of the room, "There's enough room for the both of us here."

Flameclaw followed Twilight's voice to the back of the open room. A small opening was against a wall. The faint smell of ashes came out of the hole. "It smells like something was burning."

"Twolegged use it to hold fire," explained Twilight coming out of the hole, his red fur covered in ash. He shook himself off.

"Twoleggeds hold fire?" wondered Flameclaw.

"Weird isn't it. I saw a couple twoleggeds put some sticks together and then lit a small piece of stick by rubbing it against something, and then fire was on the stick."

Flameclaw was distracted by the growl of his stomach. Twilight laughed as Flameclaw lowered his head in embarrassment. He had nothing to eat since that morning.

"I guess we should try to gather some food before it starts raining. By the way it looks, it's going to be a heavy one."

"Great," said Flameclaw. Although he was wondering where they would find food in a Twolegged place. "Where's a good place to hunt here?"

Twilight shook his head, "We cannot hunt here. There's only one thing we can do to eat. That's dumpster searching."


	4. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2!**

Flightwing

Flightwing sighed and landed on the ground. Her wings ached from all the traveling she had done. "I really need to get into shape," she sighed. She couldn't believe that she had gotten lazy from her short visit to Starclan. How was that possible?

"Odd," she commented. She looked around the small stretch of land. She was on a small island, surrounded on all sides by slow moving water. The land for the dead cats was weirder than the place for alive cats. She sniffed the air but she could not smell any fresh-kill. She stared at the water. Did that mean she had to eat fish?

"Hang on? What am I doing?" She shook her head. She was no longer a part of the Cursed Forest. Eating wasn't something she needed to do anymore. Even after all this time she tried to eat at least once a day. "I really need to let go of the past," she sighed before settling to sleep. There was no way those toms could get into trouble tonight.

Flameclaw

Flameclaw followed Twilight through the town. Twilight would stop every now and then near a silver cylinder(which he called a trash can) and sniffed it. Every time he just walked past the trash can, not doing anything to it.

"How much longer?" whined Flameclaw, not able to take this sniffing anymore. He was starving! Plus, it was getting darker. What if dogs were waiting in the shadows?

Twilight lifted his head into the air and sniffed. "I got it! We are going to eat well tonight!" he exclaimed, "Hurry. Follow me!"

Flameclaw hurried after the fox who took off in a sprint. Flameclaw could barely keep up on his legs but he kept going. Twilight stopped in front of an alley. The scent of meat mixed with fire wafted from the nearby building.

Twilight entered the small alley with Flameclaw right behind him. After a quick look around Twilight nodded. "Yup. This is the place. Okay Flameclaw. We might need to wait a bit but we'll get food."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a door opened on the side of the building. Sunlight coming from inside radiated out into the alley. Twilight flattened himself in the shadows and beckoned for Flameclaw to do the same.

A twolegged came out of the door carrying a shiny black thing. Growling something, the twolegged placed the thing by a huge metal container before going back inside.

"Let's go," said Twilight when the door was closed.

Flameclaw wanted to say no. What if the twolegged came back? What if it was a trap? However he didn't say any of it. He was not the expert in these matters. Twilight was the one who dealt with these things before. Flameclaw followed Twilght to the shiny thing.

"We are in luck today!" said Twilight, tearing it open with his teeth. Immediately something that looked like food tumbled out. "Yay! It's chicken with that weird liquid." He pawed it out of the bag and onto the ground and went back to find more. "You can eat that," said Twilight, his voice muffled from insider the shiny thing.

Flameclaw swallowed. Did this count as acting like a kittypet? Would he be breaking the warrior code eating like this? He scoffed at himself. Starclan wasn't around here to make sure he was faithful to the code. Plus, his own birth was against the code. Breaking another rule wouldn't hurt. He dropped his head and swallowed some of the weird meat that Twilight called chicken. The taste kind of reminded him of the pheasants that sometime stumbled onto Flameclan territory. The weird liquid on it seemed to give it a different flavor.

"Alright! I can't believe my luck on this one!" Twilight took his head out of the shiny thing, a brown slab of what smelled like meat in his mouth.

"What's that?" asked Flameclaw. The smell of the meat was weird. He never smelled anything like it.

"I think cow," said Twilight putting it down, "It's a huge dumb animal that comes in different colors." His ears flicked and he looked up.

Flameclaw turned to see what Twilight was looking at. At the entrance to the alley was a she-cat. She was extremely thin, her ribs pressed against her skin. The top of her left ear was ripped and her tail seemed to be missing a good amount. Her fur was caked with dirt. Flameclaw couldn't tell what her pelt color was.

"Would you like this?" asked Twilight, gesturing to the brown meat, "I smelled more in the bag. You are welcome to take it. It looks like you could use it." Twilight returned to his searching of the bag while Flameclaw watched the she-cat.

The she-cat slowly made her way over. As soon as she was near the meat, she looked at the cat and fox fearfully. Flameclaw stepped back so he was out of range of her claws as well as he could not strike her without her reacting.

"Thank you," she whispered, grasping the meat in her jaw and tore off a small bit. She swallowed and devoured the rest of the meat until it was gone.

"Here," said Twilight, finding another one in the bag. He dropped it front of the she-cat. "I found another."

The she-cat devoured it without a word of thanks. Once she was done she seemed to remember her manners. "Sorry. I haven't eaten in a while."

"That's okay," said Flameclaw, "I know about that feeling." He suddenly had a thought, "Hang on. Why aren't you freaked out by Twilight?"

Twilight removed his head from the bag and looked at the she-cat. It looked like he had realized it as well. A cat-talking fox was not normal.

The she-cat shrugged, "I guess I grew up around weird happenings. And I knew about a talking fox a long time ago. I don't really remember what he looked like though."

"I'm Flameclaw. The fox is Twilight. What's your name?"

The she-cat looked at Twilight funny, like she had some idea of who he was. "My name is Sandstream."


	5. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3!**

Flameclaw

"That sounds like a warrior name," said Flameclaw in surprise. He looked at Twilight. The fox's eyes were narrowed, like he was searching Sandstream for something.

"I used to belong to a clan," said Sandstream carefully, her green eyes watching Twilight. "A….clan named Treeclan."

Twilight barked in surprise. Flameclaw just stared at her. How was this possible? He had never heard of this she-cat before! "Where was this Treeclan? I am from Flameclan and Twilight here is from Nightclan. Does it sound familiar? Are you from the same place as us?"

Sandstream's eyes widen and she backed up a step away from the cat and fox. "No way. I didn't think it was you but now I know. I'm never going back there! They killed my mate! Those specials…I will get my revenge!" She turned tail and ran out of the alley.

"Specials?" wondered Twilight, cocking his head to the side, "What did she mean by specials?"

"Do you have any idea who she is?" asked Flameclaw.

Twilight shook his head, "No. Although she does seem familiar, like I met her before."

Flameclaw had a faint suspicion that Sandstream had something to do with the specials. That was the only reason to why Twilight couldn't remember her. But, the weird part was the fact that she remembered the clans. The she-cat mentioned revenge so did it mean that she was not around when the special erased the memories of the clan cats?

Knowing she would be able to help somewhat and maybe tell him more about the specials than Flightwing did, he ran after her. He heard Twilight bark at him to wait but Flameclaw ignored him. Instead he raced ahead. Her scent was still there but he knew if he waited too long he would lose it in the smells of the twolegged.

Running down the sidewalk, he was surprised by how fast she had run. Maybe it was the lack of weight that explained it? He stopped before a twolegged fence. He could scent her on the fence. Did that mean she jumped it? He didn't know what was on the other side but he had to take the risk. He felt bad about leaving Twilight behind but he could apologize for it later.

He jumped onto the top of the fence and peered into small piece of Twolegged territory. The nest was dark. Many large trees and bushes were in the territory casting shadows, making it difficult to see if anyone was hiding in them. He opened his mouth and tasted the air. He couldn't smell anything suspicious but that didn't meant it wasn't there.

"Here goes nothing!" He jumped down into the yard, his back to the fence. He moved his golden eyes carefully bad and forth, all senses on alert. A sudden thought entered his head. He could have found a corner somewhere and used his power instead of actually going in his body. Then he could check out the scene and make sure there weren't any crazy dogs or anything like that. No point in worrying about that now.

"Hello?" he whispered into the shadows. He thought he saw a flash of green eyes in the shadows, but he could have imagined that. "Look, I'm not here to drag you back to Treeclan or anything like that." He stepped away from the fence and took a step into the territory. He kept glancing back and forth but nothing stirred except for the wind blowing the leaves.

"How can I believe you?"

Flameclaw looked around but he couldn't tell where this voice was coming from. "Because no one remembers what you did."

"You're lying! I betrayed my clan. How will they forget something like that?"

"The specials. They erased the memories of the cats living in the clans."

Sandstream, wherever she was, was silent. Flameclaw was about to leave when Sandstream spoke again. "Why would they do such a thing?"

"Something happened in the clans," explained Flameclaw, "The specials had to leave to protect the cats that weren't specials."

"Then how do you know about it?"

"I…I was born after they left," said Flameclaw, "I was choosen by Starclan to bring them back. I was hoping maybe you could tell me more about them and maybe come with us. Plus, you can tell me more of why you choose to betray your clan."

"Get…get Twilight. He doesn't remember the specials right?"

Flameclaw nodded, then realized that she might not be able to see it, he said, "Yes."

"Bring him here. I want to ask him something. I want to know if he truly doesn't remember the specials."

"I promise," said Flameclaw, "I'll be right back." He turned and jumped back over the fence. Remembering the path he took to get there he followed it back to the alley. Twilight was still there, munching on some of the food from the shiny black thing.

"There you are," barked Twilight, "I was going to look for you if you didn't come back when I was done eating."

"Come with me," said Flameclaw, "I need to ask Sandstream something and she wants to ask you some questions."

"Okay, but I don't understand why she wants to ask me some questions."

"It's complicated," said Flameclaw, "Just come with me."

Twilight didn't complain as Flameclaw led him back to the twolegged territory. Once they crossed over the fence, Flameclaw called out to Sandstream.

"Answer this question," came Sandstream's voice. Flameclaw tried to figure out where she was but he couldn't. "Who is the deputy of Treeclan. Lionstar is probably dead by now, so who was the deputy when Lionstar was leader."

"Cedartail," replied Twilight, "He ended up becoming Cedarstar. Although…" He paused. "I think there was a deputy before Cedartail was one but I don't remember who it was."

"Do you know who I am? Or know about a cat named Windtail? Or about a battle against animals?"

"A battle against animals?" Twilight cocked his head to the side, "When did something like that happen?"

Flameclaw heard a thump and Sandstream walked out from the base of a tree. He guessed she must have been hiding in the tree the whole time. "I don't know if I can truly trust you but I will for now."

Flameclaw didn't understand how the she-cat could immediately trust them but he sensed there was something else to why she was coming with them. Maybe Flightwing would know who this she-cat was.

"Let's head back to that twolegged nest for now," said Twilight, "We'll head out in the morning."


	6. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4.**

Flightwing

"Wait. Say that again!"

"Uh, okay. A cat named Sandstream joined up with us."

Flightwing stared at Flameclaw in shock. She couldn't believe what he just said. Sandstream had joined him and Twilight? But how? Flightwing always thought Sandstream would be bent on getting revenge for the death of Windtail. But then what was the reason for her to join them? Flightwing wanted to run and watch Sandstream from above. She wanted to examine Sandstream, to find their father and mother in her.

"Uh, Flightwing?" asked Flameclaw breaking her out of her thoughts. "Who is Sandstream?"

"Right," said Flightwing, knowing Twilight would not be able to help since Nightspeaker erased all memory of Sandstream since she was the cause of the Great Battle. "Sandstream was the deputy of Treeclan before Cedarstar was. She was in love with Windtail, a rouge who wanted to take over the forest. They tried to, but were stopped by me, Auraclaw, the current special of Treeclan, Pebbletail, Streamtail and a cat from Duskclan, Starfoot."

"Okay," said Flameclaw, his orange tail flicking behind him.

Flightwing pushed on, "A couple moons later, she returned with her daughter Nightspeaker and tried to destroy the clans using Nightspeaker's power to control minds. She failed however and that was where I and Nightspeaker were killed." Flightwing looked away and at the small island they were on. Like all of the places of the dead, it featured a star filled sky. Flightwing was staring to hate the never-ending night. She wanted to feel the sun, feel the day again.

"Is that it?" asked Flameclaw, "But how could she give birth to a special? From the way you explained it, a special is born from another special."

"She...Sandstream…I mean, we think she is a special," began Flightwing, not really sure of how to go on. She stretched her wings and refolded them to help her think. "You see, my father, Applemind and my mother Grayfang were never supposed to have kits but they did. Cinderstream, and I were the second litter. Sandstream and Lilystar were the first."

Flameclaw's eyes widen. "Wait. She's your sister?"

Flightwing nodded, "That's right. I didn't learn about that until I was dead. I know you are wondering about why she was in Treeclan. What happened is that my father was friends with Visionfur, the special of Treeclan. He gave her Sandstream to raise."

She stopped talking. That was all she really knew about Sandstream. She should have asked Auraclaw to tell her more. However she knew the reason why she didn't want to know. She didn't want to think that somecat that had been her enemy was related to her.

"What's her power then?" asked Flameclaw.

Flightwing shrugged, "I don't know. But Applemind said it might be possible that she doesn't have a power at all. He had a talk with another special that had kits andf she said that one of her kits didn't have powers but that kit gave birth to a cat with powers.""What did Risingdawn do to the cats?"

"He killed them and imprisoned them," said Flightwing, "Cinderstream was safe from that because her power didn't appear for a long time."

"What should I do?" asked Flameclaw, looking away. "She knows about the specials but Twilight doesn't."

"Explain what happened to her," said Flightwing, "But don't tell her about her relatives."

"Alright. Where do we head next?"

Flightwing nodded, understanding that Flameclaw wanted to get some real sleep before they headed out again. "After you leave this Twolegplace, you need to head straight until you reach the river. That should be enough for now. Get some rest."

Flameclaw agreed and turned. As he walked away he got lighter and lighter until he was gone, leaving Flightwing alone.

Flightwing let her wings fall and drag against her ground. She would never admit it to Flameclaw but it was lonely, traveling up here by herself. On the way to their new home, Flightwing had been with a bunch of other specials. The trip back wasn't borning at all because she traveled nonstop. This time she had to rest to make sure they would be strong enough to continue. Checking the starry sky, she realized that soon it would be time to go.

Flameclaw

Flameclaw awoke to sunlight streaming in through the cracks in the ceiling. He was snuggled against Sandstream and Twilight and he could feel Sandstream's bones under her fur.

"Time to go?" asked Twilight getting up.

"Yes. Flightwing said to leave and continue heading forward until we reach a river," Flameclaw informed them.

"I'll go get us something to eat," said Twilight softly, not wanting to disturb Sandstream who was still fast asleep.

Flameclaw nodded, knowing that this was a hunting ground Twilight was familiar with. He proved that last night. He watched as Twilight's bushy tail left the twolegged nest leaving Flameclaw alone with Sandstream.

"You know Flightwing."

Flameclaw turned around in surprise. Sandstream was awake, her green eyes watching Flameclaw. "Uh, yes." He realized this was the perfect chance to tell Sandstream everything. He took a deep breath and launched into his tale, explaining why the specials left to what his journey was.

"So that's why…" said Sandstream thoughtfully, "Then that means he is with them as well…"

Flameclaw wondered if Sandstream was referring to Hazelpaw. Flightwing had told him that the tom was Sandstream's son.

"That's good," said Sandstream, "I have wanted to talk to him for a long time now."

Flameclaw didn't ask why she didn't bother returning to the clans then. Instead he said, "Please don't tell Twilight about any of this. He doesn't know anything."

"Fine," said Sandstream, "I figured as much." She looked down, "So the specials were suffering as well. I've done a horrible thing."

"I'm back!" Twilight returned, carrying some of the weird twolegged food from before. He dropped it in front of the two cats. Flameclaw noticed that he gave the biggest piece to Sandstream. "Eat up and let's get going!"


	7. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5.**

Flameclaw

The monster roared behind them causing Flameclaw to flinch. It was another thunderpath they had to cross to get to the river.

"How many of these must we cross?" snapped Sandstream, glancing back at the thunderpath in disgust. Flameclaw could still see her ribs through her skin but she looked better than before.

"Probably the last one for a while," replied Flameclaw, looking into the trees that spread out before them. The river should be near according to Flightwing's description.

Twilight sniffed the air and growled. "We should be careful. I smell…bear."

Flameclaw felt his blood go cold. His mind went to the bear that almost killed him and only with the help of Flightwing was he able to live. But that didn't mean he wasn't afraid of bears.

"Are you alright?" asked Twilight.

Flameclaw nodded, "I'll be fine. Let's just get to the river quick."

"What's wrong?" asked Sandstream. "You afraid of bears or something?"

"A bear came to the clan territories a couple moons ago," explained Twilight, "The bear almost killed Flameclaw."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"That's fine. You didn't know." Flameclaw tried not to show fear in his voice. However he knew if the bear did appear he would probably run in the other direction or leave his body. At least when he was out of his body the bear couldn't hurt him.

"Don't worry," said Twilight, "Just climb a tree if you see a bear."

"What about you?" asked Flameclaw looking down at Twilight's paws. They were the paws of a fox. There was no way he could climb up a tree.

"Don't worry," said Twilight, "I'll run. I'm more agile than a bear is."

Sandstream stepped towards the forest and Flameclaw had to bite back a yowl, telling her not to go. He knew this was the way they had to go. He wouldn't let a bear get the best of him. "Let's go."

The three headed into the forest. Flameclaw glanced around, his eyes scanning the shadows of the trees. Could a bear be hiding there? Could the bear be a relative of the bear that had come onto Flameclan territory? Was the bear angry about the death of its relative?

"Relax Flameclaw," whispered Twilight, "I think you would know if a bear was watching us. They are quite big after all."

Flameclaw looked up at Twilight and thanked him for trying to cheer Flameclaw up. He knew he should relax. This was not like before.

"Hey! I found the river!"

Twilight and Flameclaw picked up the pace until they were standing at the bank of a fast moving river. Sandstream was looking back and forth. "I don't see any place we could cross and the water looks really fast."

"Maybe we should ask…Flightwing for help," suggested Sandstream. She looked away after saying Flightwing's name. Flameclaw realized that she must be feeling guilty about what happened to her.

"How should we do that?" asked Twilight, "There's a bear in this area. I think Flameclaw should visit her while the two of us look out for the bear."

Flameclaw sighed in relief. This reduced his chance of meeting the bear. He knew Twilight could carry him so there was no chance that Flameclaw's body should be injuried. At least that's what he hoped what will happen.

"Hurry up and get it done," growled Sandstream, "I don't want to meet the bear."

"Right," said Flameclaw. He settled down near the fast moving river, ignoring the droplets of water that splashed on his fur. He closed his eyes and sleep grabbed him.

Flightwing

Flightwing's tail flicked uneasily behind her as Flameclaw entered the starry realm. She was worried for Flameclaw and the others. The last time she had come here with the specials, there wasn't a bear here. She couldn't believe how much danger she was putting Flameclaw in. _"How can I face Cinderstream if Twilight dies!?"_

"Flightwing?" asked Flameclaw, now fully in the starry realm. He looked around at the tall trees and the fast moving star filled river. It was almost an exact copy of the forest that Flameclaw was in only it was eternal night here.

"Follow the river upstream," said Flightwing, "Upstream…there should be waterfall. You need to climb up the rocks to get to the top of the waterfall. If you need to rest, behind the waterfall is a cave. It is a bit difficult to get to but I think you can manage." She wondered if she should give a message to Flameclaw to give to Sandstream but she decided against it. "Get back. I know you want to get out of the bear territory."

"Thanks Flightwing," said Flameclaw.

"Just go," replied Flightwing stretching her wings. She knew she had a lot of work ahead of her.

Flameclaw

Flameclaw groaned and opened his eyes. As soon as he opened them he wanted to close them again. Twilight was barking angrily and hissing (something he picked up from living with cats) while Sandstream was spitting out curses. Flameclaw saw what they were snapping at.

It was a bear. It was smaller than the one that attacked Flameclan but it was still larger than Twilight. The long claws on its paws reminded Flameclaw of the ones that almost killed him.

"Good," whispered Sandstream, "You're awake. As you can see, the bear decided to show up."

"We need to head upstream," said Flameclaw quietly.

"You two get going. I'll distract the bear."

"Twilight! I can't let you do that!" protested Flameclaw, "You could get killed."

"Don't worry," said Twilight, stepping towards the bear, his lips curled, revealing sharp dog-like teeth. "A twolegged wasn't able to kill me so I don't think this bear will. Sandstream. Take him."

"Come on!" Sandstream grabbed Flameclaw's scruff and began dragging him upstream until Flameclaw got his bearing and began running on his own. "Don't worry about Twilight!" she yowled, noticing Flameclaw looking back. "From what I remember about him, he's the type to survive anything. Don't worry."

"I hope you're right," murmmered Flameclaw but he couldn't help but look back once more.


	8. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6. Yay! I finally got around to updating this story.**

Flameclaw looked back again. "Stop that!" snapped Sandstream, "Right now you are making me nervous."

"Sorry."

The two warriors had reached the waterfall. Flameclaw could not believe how loud it was. Could he even hear the bear if it came in their direction? The water for the waterfall came from the top of a cliff wall. Flameclaw could see many cracks and grooves in it. At least it wasn't impossible to climb or anything.

"Come on. There has to be someplace around here where we can hide out until Twilight finds us." Sandstream walked over to the edge of the river and lapped up some of the river water.

"There's a cave in the back of the waterfall," informed Flameclaw. He stared at the fast-moving water. How in the world was he supposed to get there anyway? He wasn't Flightwing's friend Scalefur who could breath underwater.

Sandstream eyed the waterfall warily. "I wish Flightwing chose something easier to get to. But whatever. Let's go." She stepped towards the water.

"Wait!" exclaimed Flameclaw. "You can't just walk in. What if something happens? This water is fast. It'll carry you downstream in no time."

Sandstream turned to Flameclaw, her eyes flashing in annoyance. "Young tom, you need to learn a few things."

Flameclaw gulped. Sandstream turned and climbed up until she was only a whisker away from Flameclaw. "I am older and I am wiser. You on the other paw are a young tom that has not seen the world beyond your territory. You need to be following my orders on certain things."

"But Flightwing is leading me," protested Flameclaw, backing up a step. He didn't want Sandstream clawing him in the face. "I'm the one who is supposed to show the way."

Sandstream's green eyes narrowed. "You are not getting it are you? I'm telling you that you cannot be such a scaredy-mouse. I understand your fear of bears but not taking this kind of risk?" She gestured to the fast moving water with her tail. "What about the other specials? They cannot swim like Scalefur can. If they were able to make it then we will as well."

Flameclaw opened his mouth to speak but closed it again. There was no point in fighting Sandstream. She was right. If the other specials could make it then he could as well. He was a warrior now, not an apprentice. Plus Flightwing was counting on him to help stop Milkpaw. If he couldn't do this how could he take down his brother who could copy the abilities of other specials? "Let's do this."

Twilight

Twilight ducked under a tree branch and almost tumbled into a bush in the progress. He could hear the bear following him. Maybe he shouldn't have provoked it so much…

"Well, I hope StarClan is looking down on me," he whispered, twisting to the left. The trees were much closer together here. It was easy for him to slip through but it looked like the bear was having more trouble. "Take that bear!" barked Twilight as he ran.

He could hear the bear's roars follow him but Twilight refused to stop until he felt like his legs were going to fall off. He slowed to a stop, panting heavily. He could not hear the bear at all. That was a good thing at least. He glanced around. Where was he? It looked like he was in the deep part of the forest, the part that didn't seem to have been touched for moons.

"What am I thinking?" he said out loud, walking slowly now. He decided to not go back the way he came. The bear might be waiting for him to return. The further he walked the unsure he became. The trees seemed to look filthier the further he walked. The ground got darker and the grass vanished. What was going on?

There was something else wrong but Twilight could not place his paw on it. After a bit more it hit him. There were no birds. There was nothing. No animals flitting through the trees, no scent of prey. The only thing Twilight could smell was an odd scent that he didn't know. Well he knew he would find the source soon. The smell was getting stronger the more he walked forward.

The stronger the smell became the more he didn't want to continue but his curiosity was overriding his thoughts. What could make a smell like this? There had to be some reason. He picked up the pace even more. He could smell it. He was close to the target. The trees suddenly broke away and Twilight skidded to a stop and yelped at what he saw. "This can't be possible."

Flameclaw

Flameclaw shoved his head above the river water, spitting the water he had gotten into his mouth. Water roared in his ears and he was momentarily confused. He heard Sandstream calling him from ahead and began paddling in her direction. How could the other specials do this? This was ridiculous!

"Come on!" cried Sandstream, "The waterfall is ahead. We need to go around it!"

_"Easy for you to say,"_ thought Flameclaw as he pushed himself along. The water was pulling at his fur, telling him to go under. "I'm not a Streamclan cat!" he yowled, getting more water in his mouth.

"By the love of StarClan," growled Sandstream swimming back to him with powerful strokes. If Flameclaw didn't know better, he would have thought she had StreamClan blood. He felt her grasp his scruff and began dragging him towards the waterfall. He tried to help the best he could but all he did was make Sandstream upset and he gave up in the end.

The waterfall drew closer and Flameclaw slammed his eyes closed and took a deep breath as Sandstream went under. He didn't open or breathe again until he could feel the air against his whiskers.

"You are quite the pawful," said Sandstream was nearby, drying off her fur.

Flameclaw ignored Sandstream and looked around. They were in a small cave behind the waterfall! It was true! The cave was about five tail lengths high and dipped into a tunnel in the back. The waterfall's roar was deafening but the place looked comfortable. There was even moss growing along the walls.

"You ask Flightwing what to do next," instructed Sandstream, ripping some moss from the walls. "I'm going to take a nap."


	9. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7. It looks like I'm finally returning to my normal updating schedule again.**

Flightwing

Flightwing glanced up at the starry sky. How boring. The starry sky never changed. She did not understand how the cats of Starclan could stand it. How could they stay under a sky that never changes? Why must it feel like the day is never ending?

She had a feeling it most likely had to do with the fact that the first experience she had of death was imprisonment. It might be selfish but what she really wanted was to be alive again. How did that feel again? Although she did have memories it was not the same as being in the moment. She could not really remember how the sun used to warm her fur or the true shine of stars.

She stretched her wings out to their full height and looked around. Like Flameclaw she was within a cave behind a waterfall. Only instead of normal water the water from the waterfall had stars within it. The rocks around her had a faint blue glow to them. She was really starting to get sick of the whole dead thing. Plus what was there to look forward to? She would still continue to be dead for the rest of time.

Hearing a sound she turned to see Flameclaw appearing within the cave. She cursed herself for forgetting about him. Of course he would visit. They had reached the spot where she had told him to go to. "Hello Flameclaw," she purred, removing all of her negative emotions from her voice. She needed to be hope for Flameclaw. He was too timid otherwise.

Flameclaw nodded, "Hi Flightwing." He glanced around. "Wow. It looks much prettier here than where we are."

"Don't worry about that," said Flightwing, stopping herself before the sentence came out as a snap. Of course he would not know she was bored of this. He did not know all she wanted to see were normal colors again. "Anyway. The hole in the back of the cave? Use that. It's a tunnel that leads to the top of the cliff. Once you get past that, keep going straight until you see a lake in the distance. Once you catch sight of the lake, follow the thunderpath northward. That will take you to a twolegged structure that lets the monsters go over water. You'll know when you see it. I think that should be all for now. That might take you a couple of days and you do need some sleep without me within your dreams."

"Alright…" Flameclaw trailed off. Flightwing noticed his ears were pulled down and his head was a bit bowed.

"What is it?" asked Flightwing, her heart in her throat. Did something happen? Was Sandstream injured? Although she did not think of Sandstream as a friend they were still sisters.

Flameclaw shook his head, "Twilight didn't join up with us yet. There was a bear…and he said he would take care of it. He hasn't joined up with us yet…and I think…"

"Don't you dare say that!" snarled Flightwing her wings flapping in agitation.

Flameclaw jumped back in shock, his golden eyes wide in fear. Flightwing immediately regretted yelling at him. She took a deep breath and pulled her wings back in. Starclan and the loner cats have told her over and over that when she spread her wings out, it made her seem more threatening. "He isn't dead," she said calmly, "I think I would know." What a lie. She didn't know how it worked for foxes. Hang on. Where would Twilight go? He was not raised as a fox but as a cat. Would he be accepted into StarClan or would he go to the place where foxes went? "Anyway, he is alive. Don't worry. Twilight is hard to kill. He'll figure something out and return to you."

Flameclaw nodded again, "Okay. I'll hope Starclan will let that happen."

Flightwing struggled against the urge to tell him that Starclan had nothing to do with it. Starclan did not do anything but observe. "Yeah," she said finally.

Flameclaw

Flameclaw opened his eyes, the sound of the waterfall rushed into his ears. Nearby, Sandstream was staring at him with her green eyes. They were questioning. She wanted to know what Flightwing said.

Flameclaw quickly gave her the run down of the places they needed to get to. Sandstream listened quietly. When Flameclaw was done she got to her paws. "I say we get going."

"What!" cried Flameclaw, "What about Twilight? We can't just leave him!"

"Aren't you trying to get there quickly?" snapped Sandstream, "We need to get there before that crazy Milkpaw does. Twilight will have to figure out another way but that fox is smart. He learned how to be a cat. That is enough for me. Now, let's go." She stepped towards the tunnel in the back, "We can eat once we leave."

Flameclaw wanted to protest more. How could she just leave Twilight behind like that? What if he was hurt and injured somewhere? What if he needed their help? He glanced back. Maybe he could use his power…

"Flameclaw," snapped Sandstream from the opening of the tunnel. "Let's go. You better not be thinking of using that power of yours cause if you do I will throw your body into the river. Twilight is fine. We need to worry about your mission. What if, because we went off to find Twilight all the specials winded up dead? What then? Can you deal with that on your shoulders?"

Flameclaw slumped in defeat. He knew Sandstream was right. That was the goal. To find the specials and warn them of what was happening. _"You better come back alive,"_ he thought as he followed Sandstream into the tunnel.

Twilight

The fox rubbed his eyes with his paw and looked again. Before him was a small lake. Only instead of clear water it was filled with sludge. Weird sludge that let off a pungent smell. Twilight recoiled back. What was this? How could there be something like this? No wonder nothing lived here. Anything that did would die!

He jumped, hearing noises coming from nearby. Based on the pitch, he figured they were the sounds of dogs. Young dogs. But why were dogs here? He figured that the dogs must live around the area so this thing was no surprise to them. He was just going to head back when he heard another sound. It was the yowl of a cat.

Twilight twisted around and ran in the direction of the sound. He crossed over a tree and saw an old tabby cowering in the center of a circle of young dogs. They were different shapes and sizes but Twilight figured they were all around the same age, maybe four or five moons. The dogs would jump forward and yip at the cat every now and then make it cower even more.

"Hey!" snarled Twilight in fox, running into the clearing. His teeth were bared in anger, his whole body showing off his anger. He knew fox language and dog language were pretty close to each other with minor differences "Leave the cat alone. What did the cat do to you?"

A small brown dog with floppy ears turned to Twilight and barked, "Why would a fox care? We are having fun!"

"Stop having fun at the expensive of others." He noticed the cat was watching the situation with frightened eyes. "Don't worry. I'm here to help," he said in cat.

The cat stared at him in shock. "You speak cat?"

Twilight nodded before returning his attention to the brown dog, that was approaching him. The dog was about the same size as him but Twilight was not afraid. He was a warrior and older than this dog. He had the advantage.

"Why are you messing with our fun?" asked the dog, "It's just an old cat."

"Weren't you taught to respect your elders?" snapped Twilight. "Leave the cat alone and go."

"Why would I listen to a fox like you?" laughed the brown dog, "We don't listen to anyone. I lead these dogs and we go wherever we wish whenever we want to."

"Really?" said Twilight, "Is that what you think?"

"Yeah. Now go away."

"Sorry but I will not leave the cat."

"You really want to mess with us don't you?" The dog barked and lunged forward.

Twilight's warrior reflexes had him shifting backwards, the dog's teeth missing his chest. The fox reared on his hind legs and screeched like a cat, smacking his paw against the dog's head. At the same time he fell forward and he was half on the dog's back, pushing him to the ground. Twilight placed his jaw near the dog's neck. "I would go now," he said, knowing dogs had that whole alpha thing and probably would not attack without permission from this dog. Plus this young dog had a lot of pride.

Twilight got off the dog's back and the dog scrambled to his paws. He let off a warning growl at Twilight before fleeing. Like Twilight predicted the other dogs followed suite.

He released his breath. The last time he felt like this was after the death of the bear. A relief that it was all over.

"You...."

Twilight saw the cat was slowly making his way over. His brown filthy fur had a few white hairs here and there. He was missing an ear and his tail seemed to be broken. The cat's left eye was clouded over while his right was a piercing gray. "You…" said the cat slowly again like he was just learning how to talk. "You are Twilight?"


	10. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8.**

Twilight

Twilight's jaw opened and closed. He didn't know what to say. Who was this cat? How did he know who Twilight was? From his time with Crystal, he had spent the whole time speaking fox.

"You must be confused. I'm sorry." The cat dipped his head in a very warrior-like style. "My name is Rich. I am a former kittypet now loner."

"Kittypet?" repeated Twilight. The fox sat down on the grass. He was really confused. Who was this cat? Why did he act like a warrior even though he wasn't one.

"You still must be confused," said Rich. "You see, a couple moons ago, a group of cats came and saved me. Well, a she-cat did. Cinderstream was her name."

"Cinderstream!?" Twilight jumped to his paws in shock. A mental image of the cinder colored she-cat entered his mind. The cat who became his friend and told him what he truly was.

"I can see I guessed right," Rich sat on his haunches again. "That's good. It's nice that I got to meet the fox that she spoke so highly of."

"Tell me more," said Twilight excitedly. He couldn't believe it! Cinderstream was alive! Maybe alive, but alive! "Where is she? Is she alright?" He paused. Wait. Rich mentioned other cats. "Who were the other cats?"

Rich blinked in surprise. "They called themselves specials."

"Specials…" Twilight trailed off. That word. It tickled something in the back of his mind. He had heard the term before. He couldn't figure out where though. Hearing a sound, he glanced up to see Rich falling over. With a quick yelp he was by the old tom's side, holding him up.

"Thank you," rasped the tom. Only then did Twilight feel the bones of the tom. He glanced down and realized with a jolt how scrawny he was. He was even scrawnier than a Nightclan cat in leaf-bare. How could he have been so blind? He knew that taking care of elders was one of the duties of a clan cat. He carefully helped Rich sit down before stepping away. The tom stared at him in confusion.

"I'll be right back," said Twilight, "I'm going to go get some fresh-kill. Then I would like to know about…the specials." Before Rich could protest, Twilight turned tail and disappeared into the undergrowth.

He knew going back in the way of the sludge-filled lake was a no-no. There was no food there. Plus even if there was, there was probably nothing that would fill an old starving cat like Rich. He sniffed the air with his sensitive nose and scented a thunderpath nearby. Knowing that was his best bet, he headed in that direction. He realized it was the same direction the dogs had ran off to. The closer he got to the nest the more twolegged scents he smelled. Breaking out of the tree line he saw he was at the tip of a twolegged town.

Twilight barked happily at the sight. He could definitely find food there. Maybe hunt in a trash can or something. He was about to walk in when he suddenly remembered something and pulled back. It was daylight. From what Crystal told him, twoleggeds found it weird to see foxes in the daytime. "Foxdung," he spat, turning back to the forest. He guessed he would have to hunt the old fashion way.

Twilight noticed the current area of forest he was in smelled better than the area near the sludge lake. He guessed it had something to do with being a bit away from it.

"Hey!"

Twilight turned to the voice and his neck fur stood on end. A tom-fox stepped out of the undergrowth, his golden eyes flashing with anger.

Twilight growled angrily. He had no time to be dealing with other foxes! A scent entered his nose and he noticed a plump rabbit right behind the fox. What luck! Although he didn't like it, stealing was the best he could do for now.

"This is my territory. Can't you smell the scent markings?" snapped the fox.

Twilight shook his head. He did not. It was probably because he was too focused on the twolegged smell plus he didn't pay attention to fox scent boundary markings anymore. He was a clan cat. Fox things did not matter to him.

"Sorry," said Twilight, "I'll be going. I was just passing through. You seemed to have caught a juicy rabbit there."

The fox's ear flicked in annoyance. "What are you talking about? Yes. I caught a rabbit. Now go."

Twilight shook his head, "I'm sorry but I need that rabbit. I need to speak with somecat and I would be nice but I don't have time for that." Like with the dogs, Twilight fell into his cat side. His lips pulled back in a snarl.

The fox did the same, his fur rising on end. Twilight didn't wait for him to attack. Instead he charged at the fox, slamming his paw against the fox's muzzle, wishing that he had the claws of a warrior cat like he did many times in the past. The fox snarled and clamped his jaw around Twilight's leg. Twilight yelped and batted the fox with his other front paw while his paw clamped around the fox's shoulder. The fox yelped in shock and let go of Twilight's paw.

Ignoring the throbbing pain, Twilight brought his paw down on the fox's head. He let go at the same time and the fox tumbled to the ground. Twilight scrambled onto the fox's back, pinning him down. "Now do you understand how serious I am?" he snarled.

The fox nodded and Twilight scrambled off him. The fox jumped to his paws and growled angrily at Twilight before disappearing into the undergrowth.

Twilight sighed in relief. His paw throbbed but he ignored it. He picked up the rabbit and hurried back. Rich was in the same place Twilight had left him. The tom glanced up in surprise as Twilight put the rabbit in front of him. He hoped Rich would think the fox scent on it was his.

Rich stared at the rabbit in shock. "Is this for me?" A quick nod from Twilight confirmed it and the cat got to work. Twilight sat in front of him, watching Rich devour through the rabbit like it was nothing. He struggled to not let his tail flick impatiently behind him.

After Rich had eaten most of the rabbit, the tom looked up in happiness. "Thank you."

Twilight shook his head. "It's alright. Now, about…"

Rich nodded. "Yes. A couple moons ago, Cinderstream as well as the specials of the clan were passing through here. They said they were running away to protect the clans."

"Specials?" That was the second time Rich used that word. What did it mean?

Rich suddenly seemed to understand what was wrong. "You don't have your memories do you?"

"My memories?" Twilight tilted his head to the side.

Rich looked away. "That means…you don't know about how Cinderstream saved me."

"What are you talking about?"

Rich glanced up at Twilight. "You may not believe me but I was dying of injuries and she healed my wounds with her power. Twilight. The clans are not what you think they are. I don't know why you are out here but Cinderstream did tell me to tell you everything if you were ever to come my way."

Twilight didn't know what to say. What could he say? He still couldn't get over the fact that Rich had told him that Cinderstream had healed his injuries. How was that possible?

Rich closed his eyes and opened them again. "Just listen. Listen through to the end." Before Twilight could protest, Rich launched into it. He explained what the specials were, what power each of them had. Their names. Why they left. The Great Battle against other animals. The fight that took place within Starclan and finally their leaving. When Rich was done, the sun was beginning to set, casting the cat and fox within the long shadows of the trees.

Twilight didn't know what to say. It all didn't sound true. It sounded like a crazy event that Rich had strung together. However Twilight had a feeling it wasn't. Rich had described the Great Battle in such detail and Twilight knew exactly where the spot the battle had taken place.

"I see you believe me. Good." Rich placed his head on his paws. "I'm happy I got to have a nice chat and get it all off my chest. And I am glad to have met you as well Twilight. Now I know what she meant when she talked about you."

Twilight didn't say anything. He just sat there. A nagging thought was in his head. From what Rich told him the specials had left moons ago and memories not involving the specials were not removed. No other cats had left so…did that mean Flameclaw was actually looking for the specials? Were they the ones Flameclaw wanted to warn? "Which way are the specials? Did they tell you?"

"They headed through the twolegged nests beyond this forest," replied Rich, his voice growing faint, "They…they said they knew where they were going. They would continue straight until they got to the place where they wanted to go."

Twilight nodded and got to his paws. He had to get through the twolegged place tonight while he could hide in the shadows. "Thanks Rich. I owe you one." When Rich did not reply, Twilight leaned forward and prodded the tom with his paw. Rich's body was still.

Realizing with a jolt, Twilight dropped his head and looked up at the twinkling stars that were starting to appear above. "Starclan. Please guide this old tom. He has helped saved the clans and I hope he can join your ranks." Twilight felt bad for not sitting a vigil but he knew he needed to get going. However that did not mean he would leave Rich's body behind.

The fox began digging a hole, his paw aching in pain but he suppressed it. Somehow he had the feeling Rich was waiting for him, waiting to give him the information before moving on. He would not leave Rich for the birds and dogs to feed on.

Once the hole was big enough he carefully dragged the tom over and put him in the hole and quickly covered him up with dirt. Twilight wondered how he would stand doing this when he became an elder. Burying his clanmates. When the dirt was all gone, Twilight dipped his head again. "Thank you Rich. I will never forget you." He turned away from the grave and headed for the town. He knew Flightwing would get Flameclaw there. He would get there on his own and meet them there. Then…he would see her again. Cinderstream.


	11. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9. Sorry for the slow updating…**

"Flameclaw. I swear on StarClan if you look back one more time I'm going to feed you to a dog."

Flameclaw's head snapped forward and he focused on the grass they were walking on. They were walking next to a thunderpath. Monsters would run by every now and then. Flameclaw always wanted to run for the bushes when it did but Sandstream did not. She just walked on like the monsters were not there. He wished he could be strong like her.

_"What am I doing!"_ he thought, _"I should be strong too! I'm the one who was chosen to warn the specials. I have to get there before my brother does."_ His thoughts drifted to the specials. What were they like? Flightwing had told him stories about them but that was not the same. He could not picture them. Would they look normal? Would Scalefur look more fish than cat?

"Flameclaw!" A ruff grip on his scruff yanked him back just as a monster roared by. He could feel the wind pulling his fur along and if he wasn't being held down, he was sure if he would have been blown away.

"Thanks Sandstream," he said weakly as the she-cat released him. Her green eyes flashed with anger.

"Don't make me do that again," she spat, "I will let you get run over next time."

"Thanks Sandstream," he repeated quietly, following her, his fur feeling hot. Mousebrain. How could he loose focus like that? He was the one supposed to lead on this mission but why did it seem like Sandstream was doing more leading than him? _"Maybe I'm not cut out for this,"_ he thought sadly, his thoughts flying to Twilight again. What about him? Twilight had willingly come along. He wished Flightwing had just chosen Twilight for this mission._ "Stop feeling sorry for yourself,"_ he scolded.

Sandstream suddenly stopped and whirled around to face Flameclaw. "Okay. Stop. I know you think you shouldn't be here but you do alright?"

"What?" Flameclaw blinked and backed up a step. Was Sandstream's power coming out? Could she read minds? That would be bad! Then she would find out all the stuff Flightwing told him to not tell her. "Please don't read my mind!" he begged.

Sandstream blinked slowly. "What? Read your mind? Where did you get that idea?"

"You can't read my mind?"

Sandstream shook her head. "I don't know what Flightwing put into your mind but I am not a special and will never be one." Flameclaw bit his tongue so he would not reveal what he knew about her. That would just make the situation worse. "Anyway, the reason I know why is because you seem to have very low self-esteem and are constantly doubting yourself."

Flameclaw looked away, his eyes settling on the black thunderpath. He could sense a very long speech of why he should not doubt himself coming. He had gotten them enough from Flightwing. Well they were sisters. That could explain it.

Hang on.

Flameclaw could feel eyes on him. He looked up, his ears droning out Sandstream's talk about how important it was to believe in yourself. His felt his blood go cold. He stared at the cat across the thunderpath. The smoke gray fur.

"Flameclaw? Flameclaw? You listening to me?"

The cat turned and disappeared into the undergrowth. Without really knowing what he was doing he was across the thunderpath, ignoring the roars blaring from the monsters as well as Sandstream's yowls.

A miracle that he didn't get hit, he was now across. Without thinking he was in the undergrowth. The scent of the cat was around him. He followed it, still not believing his senses. Was it truly the cat he thought he saw? Was it possible it was a lookalike?

The scent weaved in and out of trees, through bushes, over fallen logs. How could the cat get so far ahead of him? His eyes near left the trail. He heard nothing. His nose only smelled the scent.

"FLAMECLAW!" He felt a sharp tug on his scruff yanking him back.

The pull snapping something inside of him and he seemed to return. He looked around, finally taking in his surroundings. He yowled in fear. He was at the edge of a cliff! Below, many fox-lengths below was the ground. The only thing keeping himself from tumbling over was Sandstream, holding onto his scruff, struggling to pull him back.

Flameclaw struggled to help but only his back paws were actually on solid ground. Would he die here? Was this the end? However Sandstream was not ready for Flameclaw to die and she was somehow able to pull Flameclaw back to safety.

"That was the most mousebrained thing ever!" snapped Sandstream, releasing Flameclaw's scruff. "What were you doing? You could have died!"

"I'm sorry," said Flameclaw quietly. "I just…" He didn't know how to explain but he had to try. "I thought I saw my father, Smokeclaw."


	12. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10.**

"Your father?" Sandstream's confusion was clear. "Why would he be out here? Isn't he back in Flameclan?"

Flameclaw shook his head. "My father…he was exiled from the clan." He lowered his head as Sandstream made a strangled cry. "He…was training my siblings, Milkpaw and Brookpaw in secret."

"That doesn't sound too bad," commented Sandstream. She chuckled. "Did the clans get stricter after I left? I'm happy I didn't go back then." She stopped when the expression on Flameclaw's face didn't change.

"When Cloudstar, the current leader asked him about it in front of the clan he panicked and he…attacked Spottedclaw, my mother." Flameclaw hated thinking of it. He could hear his mother's wails of pain in his head and Smokeclaw's expression. The one of hatred he had towards Flameclaw. _"Why did you blame me?"_ he thought angrily. _"I did nothing wrong. Sure I may not be your kit but so was Milkpaw! He was treated like Brookpaw was. Was it because I looked like him? Like Firewind."_

Firewind. The cat that shared a striking resemblance to him according to Waterstar. He wasn't sure about it but he suspected Firewind might be his father. From the way Spottedclaw had tried to remember somecat from her past it was probably him. He had not asked Flightwing about it. It was too afraid to. What if he wasn't? From what Flightwing had told him about Firewind, he seemed to be a natural leader. How could Flameclaw, the coward, be related to such a cat?

"I'm sorry," spoke Sandstream. "I didn't know. When I was exiled-er, I ran away actually, I wasn't leaving anycat behind so I don't think it mattered but it must have hit you hard."

Flameclaw shook his head. "It might be surprising but it didn't. He was never a like a real father to me. I wasn't treated the same like my siblings. He hated me. I think…I think he knew what I was before I did." He struggled to laugh. "Sorry. I'm telling you my sob story here."

"No. It's alright," soothed Sandstream with a kindness that surprised Flameclaw. She began gently licking his fur like a queen would do her kits. Flameclaw reminded himself that she did have kits. Hazelpaw and Nightspeaker. "Huh," she chuckled, "I'm treating you better than I did my own kits. How pathetic is that?"

Flameclaw shook his head. "It's fine. Don't worry about it." He suddenly felt stifled by Sandstream's kindness. He stepped away. "Sorry," he said. "Can I be along for a bit?"

"Sure," replied Sandstream. She looked around and her eyes settled to a tree. "I'll be waiting in the roots of that tree. If you don't come back by sundown…well I'm going to track you down and find you and you are going to feel very sorry."

"Of course," purred Flameclaw before heading off. He didn't really know where he was going but why did it matter? He just wanted time to think.

The forest was quiet except for the sounds of birds flitting through the trees and the mice darting through the undergrowth. Flameclaw didn't both tracking them. Hunting them was the last thing on his mind. He was so focused on his thoughts that he almost didn't catch the scent on a tree.

He closed in on the tree and sniffed again. His eyes widen and he backed away. It was _his_ scent. And it was fresh. Flameclaw looked around wildly. Where was he? He knew he did not imagine seeing Smokeclaw there!

Flameclaw felt a presence behind him and he whirled around. There he was. The smoky gray tom watched Flameclaw intently, his dark eyes filled with pure hatred. Flameclaw was forced to back up a step under his gaze. He gritted his teeth. What was he doing? He had every right to be there. He did not have to fear this cat. He was a warrior now. And not just a warrior, but a special as well. From what Flightwing had told him he was above Smokeclaw in position. Heck, he was even higher than Cloudstar!

"I didn't expect to see you out here," spat the gray tom, the voice seething with venom.

Flameclaw swallowed slowly before speaking. "I didn't expect to see you as well."

"So," said Smokeclaw, "Why are you here? Don't tell me Cloudstar sent you to try to get me back!" He laughed. "Why would he want to do that?"

Flameclaw felt like he was talking to Waterstar all over again. He was going mad. All because the memories of the specials were gone. "I understand why you hate me," he said calmly which surprised Flameclaw. "I am the son of your rival for feelings for Spottedclaw. You felt betrayed by her. You think I should not exist and I understand." He dipped his head. "I'm sorry for making you suffer. Starclan never meant for this to happen. They just wanted to save the clans-"

"What nonsense are you spouting out?" snarled Smokeclaw. "Rival? What rival?"

"Firewind."

Smokeclaw paused for a moment. He seemed to be thinking deeply about something. "That name…it means something…but…" Smokeclaw shook his head. "What am I doing? I can't let you distract me!" His attention focused back on Flameclaw. He unsheathed his claws.

"Firewind was a special," said Flameclaw in an attempt to calm the tom. "He had the power to spit fire-"

"Silence," spat Smokeclaw, leaping for Flameclaw. "Now die!"

Flameclaw was no longer the young apprentice from their last meeting. He fluidly dodged to the left and swung his paw upwards, catching Smokeclaw in the chest. The air whooshed out of Smokeclaw and he fell to the ground. Flameclaw quickly hopped onto Smokeclaw's back, pinning him down.

"So?" spat Smokeclaw. "You are going to kill me now? Go ahead! See if you can!"

Flameclaw shook his head. "No." He stepped back and released Smokeclaw from his hold. "I will not kill you. I do not have the right to. I have been a cause for your suffering and I'm sorry for that. Because of that I cannot kill you."

Smokeclaw watched Flameclaw in confusion. "I don't understand. I was a horrible father to you. You should want me dead."

Flameclaw shook his head again. "No. I don't. I mean, I cannot really forgive you for attacking Spottedclaw but I know it was because you couldn't understand your feelings. You don't remember Firewind so you don't know where your jealously and rage is coming from." Flameclaw dipped his head. "Don't worry. I'll take Sandstream and we'll leave."

Flameclaw turned his back and began walking away.

Smokeclaw laughed and launched himself towards Flameclaw. "Never turn your back on me!" he snarled.

However he never reached Flameclaw. Sandstream jumped out of the shadows where she had been trailing Flameclaw the whole time and latched her teeth around Smokeclaw's neck.

Flameclaw looked back in surprise and horror as he saw Sandstream rip Smokeclaw's throat. "What? How could you?" he cried. "I was going to let him go! He-"

Sandstream looked up at him, her muzzle covered in blood. "Don't be a fool," spat the she-cat. "Smokeclaw doesn't care about your heroics. He would have killed you."

"But…"

"No," Sandstream walked away from Smokeclaw's body. She paused right next to Flameclaw. "Flameclaw. I used to be like him as well. He had the same look in his eye when I saw Darkkit as Hazelpaw for the first time." She shivered at the memory. "I hated him. I wanted to rip him apart until there was nothing left. Now. Come on. Let's go before his stench attracts a badger or something."

Flameclaw looked back at Smokeclaw's body. He never deserved such a death. He was a victim like everyone else. He dipped his head. "I'm sorry," he whispered before running after Sandstream.


	13. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11.**

Twilight slipped out of the shadow of the twolegged nest, his body not wasting any movement as he entered the shadow of the next nest. Day was coming and coming quick. Soon there would be no shadows to hide his travel through the twolegged place. Then what? He still had a way to go. It was amazing that he hadn't been caught yet but for how long could he keep it up? He wasn't already pushing his luck as it was.

"Cinderstream," he whispered, just to feel her name roll off his tongue. He took in a deep breath. "Scalefur, Hazelpaw, Firewind, Auraclaw." Those names were only names to him. He tried so hard to picture the cats behind those names but they would not come. "Lilystar," he said and that cat appeared in his mind. The white furred she-cat was the reason why Twilight was alive today. If she had not allowed him to live within the clan then…

"Oh Sunpelt," his thoughts now on his foster mother. He missed her terribly, having died from greencough a few moons after his return. His thoughts were broken as the sounds of footsteps and a stench made him look up.

Dogs.

A large dirty gray dog with pointed ears led the way with a pack of dogs of different sizes and colors right behind him. A lump rose in Twilight's throat when he noticed a brown dog about his size next to the gray dog. It was the dog he had beaten before.

The gray dog looked down on Twilight. "Why is there a fox here on my, territory?" he asked.

Twilight did not back down even though the fox part of him was screaming at him to lower himself to the ground and beg forgiveness from this huge dog. The warrior part of him would never live it down. He was not a dog or a relative of this thing. He was a cat. A warrior cat. "I was just passing through," he said calmly. "I'll be out of here soon."

"That's not good enough," spat the gray dog. He growled and his pack began circling until Twilight was trapped a circular space.

"This is cowardly," snarled Twilight, his back arched in a very cat-like gesture.

"Look!" cried one of the dogs. "He thinks he's a cat."

Dogs barked with laughter at Twilight's odd form. The fox just ignored them. They did not understand what he was at all. The code he lived by. "You dogs know nothing," he smirked. _"What are you doing? You're making this situation worse than it needs to be!"_

_"No!"_ cried another part of him, _"They are making fun of your warrior roots. You are not a fox. You are a cat. You will never obey the laws of the dogs."_

The gray dog stepped forward and one of his lackeys covered the spot he made in the circle. "You are going to pay for hurting one of my pack."

"Bring it on you piece of foxdung," snarled Twilight.

The dog was confused for a moment. "Foxdung?" he laughed. "What kind of insult is that? You are a fox yourself. What are you? Insulting yourself?" Dogs laughed at the remark.

"I am not a fox," said Twilight coldly. He lifted his head proudly. "I am Twilight. A loyal cat of Nightclan."

"Cat? He said cat?"

"What is this fox, nuts?"

"He probably has a few missing up there!"

"Hey boss. Maybe we should find this Nightclan place later."

"Don't you dare touch Nightclan!" snarled Twilight, his lips pulled back in a snarl. It was one thing to threaten him. Threaten his clan? That was another. He stepped towards the gray dog. "Threaten me all you want. But threaten my clan? You're really asking for trouble aren't you?"

The dog snarled. "Fox. You are going to wish you had never come into my town and messed with my pack. Grab him. Take him back to the lair. I want him alive."

"But why would we do that? Let's kill him here and now!"

"Silence," roared the gray dog at the one that had spoken. "We cannot kill him now. The furless ones are going to wake soon. They will save the fox before we get our fill. At our lair we will not be disturbed."

Twilight did not like the look of it. He knew he could jump pretty high but could he jump over a collection of dogs? Knowing he would be in trouble otherwise he took the chance. He ran for the other end of the dogs and pushed off into the air. However he did not get very far. One of the dogs, with long legs, jumped up and clamped her jaw around Twilight's leg bringing him to the ground.

The fox yelped in pain as his head smashed against the twolegged surface known as concrete. Dogs were all over him. He yowled like a cat as the teeth of dogs grabbed his fur. He was going to die. He just knew it. This was the end of him. _"I'm sorry Cinderstream,"_ he said to StarClan. _"I'm sorry I could not see you again."_ He closed his eyes. He did not want to see himself get torn apart…

Howls from the dogs made him open his eyes. The dogs that had grabbed him were releasing him. They were staring at something in fear. Twilight looked in the same direction in confusion. The howls were coming from that way. He wasn't sure but it seemed like the dogs that were howling immediately fell to the ground.

"You've got to be kidding me!" howled one of the dogs near Twilight. "I didn't think one of those things would come here."

"Let's get out of here!"

Twilight watched in shock as the dogs around him turned tail and ran. He glanced forward again, now having a clear view of what was going on. The large gray dog was growling at a cat. The cat was about the size of a warrior with pale gray fur and attentive green eyes. His ear was torn and Twilight could see scars on his body.

Next to the gray tom was another tom, only this one was brown and didn't have the same strong looking appeal the gray one had.

"Leave here dog," spat the gray tom. Twilight blinked. Was there lighting darting across his fur?

The brown cat next to him spoke quickly in crude but understandable dog.

The gray dog growled and looked at his fallen comrades. "You'll pay for this!" he barked before running away.

Twilight couldn't believe it. A cat had scared a dog away!

"Thanks for telling me about this Sky," spoke the gray tom to the brown one.

"No problem," purred who Twilight thought was Sky. "They were causing a lot of trouble. I'm just happy I could help you translate with my horrible dog." He yowled when he noticed Twilight standing there. "It's a fox!"

The gray tom's head jerked in Twilight's direction. The lighting flashed across his fur as he slowly moved towards Twilight. "Can you speak fox Sky?" he asked.

"No," replied Sky. "Sorry."

"Then I'll guess I'll have to threaten instead."

Twilight didn't feel worried at all as this odd cat approached him. In fact he felt relieved in a way. Why? His thoughts drifted to Rich. Wait. He barked in surprise. It couldn't be. But the description matched perfectly. "Wait!" he cried in cat.

The gray tom paused in shock. "You can speak cat. It can't be…"

"Are…are you Hazelpaw?"

"Twilight…" whispered the gray tom.


	14. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12. Twilight and Hazelpaw meet after a very long time!**

The cat named Hazelpaw took a step in Twilight's direction, the lightning gone from his fur. The other cat, Sky gasped. "Twilight? You mean the fox that saved my brother's mate's life?"

Twilight just stared at Sky. He didn't remember that. In fact, now that he thought of it, why did he return to the clans to begin with? That was puzzling. It was probably in his locked away memories somewhere.

"Twilight, it's really you!" Hazelpaw launched himself forward and almost knocked Twilight over as the cat greeted him. "I missed you. Wait." He backed up a couple of steps and gazed into Twilight's eyes. "You don't remember me…do you?"

Twilight's heart almost broke as he saw the distressed look in Hazelpaw's eyes. He wanted to yell and say that he remembered this cat but he couldn't. He did not know who this cat was, all he had was the information from Rich. "I'm sorry," Twilight lowered his head.

"Oh," said Hazelpaw. Realizing something he asked, "Why are you here? Did…did you leave the clans again? Did Crystal forgive you?"

"Forgive me?" Twilight repeated, now really confused. Crystal was mad at him? Since when?

"Oh right. You wouldn't remember that either. Since I was there," Hazelpaw shuffled his paws uncomfortably.

"Maybe we should talk in a more hidden place?" suggested Sky. "The sun is coming up and the twolegged will start waking up. I don't know how they will react to this."

"Right," agreed Hazelpaw.

"Agreed," barked Twilight. He trusted Hazelpaw. Even without remembering who this cat was, deep down he knew Hazelpaw could be trusted with his life.

"Follow me, I know a place," spoke Sky, leading the way.

Flameclaw

Flameclaw's eyes widen as he stared in shock at the twolegged structure before him. The thing seemed to be made from shiny stuff and the monsters were using it to cross over a large body of water.

"So, we were supposed to reach a bridge huh?" commented Sandstream. "Could have told me that. I could have gotten us here much quicker since I have been here before."

Flameclaw glanced over at her but based on her expression, she wasn't kidding. "I think we're going to need to cross," replied Flameclaw, remembering the dream he had last night. "And then we just follow the thunderpath till we get there."

"Well that was simple enough," laughed Sandstream. Her laughter died off.

Looking over at her, Flameclaw could see sadness within her eyes. "Don't worry," he said, "From what Flightwing told me of Hazelpaw, he sounds like the type that will forgive you."

"He may forgive me," said Sandstream slowly, "But I don't forgive myself."

Twilight

"So that's what's going on?" said Hazelpaw in shock.

Twilight nodded. They were in an ally. Even though the sun was out the ally was still dark enough to hide the two cats and fox. And since the dogs were scared off they didn't have to worry about dogs jumping them.

"Yes," replied Twilight. "I don't have all the details though. Flameclaw didn't tell me but I knew it was some cat from Starclan. Plus, Sandstream also…" Twilight trailed off. Hazelpaw had gone ridged. Why? "Hazelpaw?"

"Sandstream," Hazelpaw swallowed. "Why…why was she there? What did she want?"

Twilight was surprised by Hazelpaw's tone. The tom seemed almost afraid. No. There was something else there as well. Not just fear. But what? "Hazelpaw? Are you alright?"

Hazelpaw shook his head. "Twilight. Sandstream's my mother. She tried to kill me."

Twilight barked in surprise. He didn't remember that. Great. He just made the situation worse. However he knew Sandstream was not like that. He saw how he wanted her kits to forgive her. "Hazelpaw. Sandstream wants your forgiveness. She realized she was wrong."

Hazelpaw shook his head. "I cannot believe that. I'm sorry Twilight but what she did to me, what she did to my sister. It is something I cannot just forgive based on your words alone."

"I understand," said Twilght. His tail flicked behind him in a cat-like way. "But can you take me to the other specials? Plus Flameclaw is heading the same way. He's probably worried about me. We were attacked by a bear and I used myself as a decoy. Flameclaw is afraid of bears. He was almost killed by one."

Hazelpaw glanced over at Sky. He seemed to be thinking deeply. "I don't know," he said carefully. "We ran away to save the clans."

"Hazelpaw!" snapped Twilight. "That doesn't matter anymore! Right now something is coming to get you. Something from the clans. And now that I think about it, it is probably another special. Flameclaw did say the cat was unique."

"Special?" Hazelpaw looked up in confusion. "That can't be. There should be no specials in the clans! We made sure of it!"

Twilight could see how distressed Hazelpaw was but he could not back down. He may not remember who Hazelpaw was but he knew how important this mission was. "Hazelpaw," he hissed. "Listen to me. The cat that appeared to me in a dream? It was a brown she-cat with wings."

Hazelpaw froze. "Flightwing," he whispered.

"Yes. Flightwing came to me and told me to help Flameclaw. I trusted her because I had the feeling I knew who she was. Now, if you really did know me, you need to trust me."

"It's because I trust you I want to deny it," said Hazelpaw. "We already went through so much to get to this point. We all, no, all of the specials that lived their lives and suffered as specials, they deserved to live happily. However it looks like that won't happen." He got to his paws. "Sky. Send word that I took care of the dogs. If they come back you know where to find me."

"Of course," said the brown tom.

Hazelpaw turned his attention to Twilight. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" asked Twilight also getting to his paws.

"Where else? Where the other specials are."


	15. Chapter 13

**Sorry for the wait. Here's the next Demon Clans chapter!**

Flightwing

Flightwing sighed in relief as she watched as Flameclaw and Sandstream cross over the bridge. It was dark, the moonlight the only thing lighting the way. Monsters would come by every now and then but they were far and few.

She stretched out her wings and backed away from the puddle of water before her. The image in it disappeared making it a normal pool again. Looking into the living world was tiring, especially when one had to do it on their own.

"Whatever," murmured the she-cat. She looked around the starry filled forest. Unlike the living world, the world of Starclan did not have the influence of the twolegged. That was probably the only real nice thing about this place. She shook her head. She couldn't feel sorry for herself. This was no time for that. They were close.

"I wonder what will happen," she whispered getting to her paws. Although she hated to leave them behind, they were so close that Flightwing was sure they would make it there alright. Plus she really wanted to see Nightspeaker and the others again. She wondered what they had gotten to while she was gone.

Flightwing opened her brown wings and after a quick couple of flaps, she was in the air. The air around her seemed to cup her wings helping her stay airborne. Another perk for being dead. It was easier to fly. She flew ahead as fast as she could with the wind pushing her along. She couldn't wait.

Flameclaw

Flameclaw did not feel calm until they were on the other side of the bridge. On this side, the forest extended out in all directions. There was also an odd smell in the air that Flameclaw could not indentify.

"Which way?" asked Sandstream from next to him.

"Towards that smell," replied Flameclaw, remembering Flightwing's words. He wondered what she was doing now. The she-cat had told him that she would be going on ahead to meet her companions again. He was a little annoyed that she would just leave him here but it was understandable. She had not been back here in a long time.

"Let's go then," spoke Sandsteam trotting off in the direction of the smell.

Flameclaw was right behind her. He was both nervous and excited. He would finally meet the specials! He would know what they looked like. Maybe they could teach him a little more about his powers! Maybe.

_"Or they could hate you,"_ whispered a little voice in his head. _"They could try to kick you out and make you leave without hearing your warning."_

Flameclaw shook his head. No. From what Flightwing said, they wouldn't. As long as he explained he would be okay.

"Oh Starclan."

Flameclaw hurried to join Sandstream who was staring forward in wonder. He was so focused on moving he didn't notice the grass under him turn to sand until he was right next to Sandstream. "What is this?" he whispered.

For thousands of foxlegnths stretched a huge lake. At least he thought it was a lake. The way the water looked was so odd in the light of the dawn, the way it moved seemed different than a lake.

"The ocean," whispered Sandstream. "They live here? Near the ocean. Huh. Didn't expect that one."

"Ocean?" asked Flameclaw.

Sandstream turned to Flameclaw. "It's-duck!"

Flameclaw dove to the ground. He felt something fly over his head and crash into the sand in front of him. Lifting his head he saw it was a rock about the size of him! He turned his head to see where it came from but saw another rock go flying at him.

Relying on instinct he rolled to the side to avoid getting smashed by the rock. He jumped to his paws. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sandstream run behind a huge pile of sand. Following her lead, he ran behind another.

"What's going on?" he cried as more rocks flew towards them at alarming speed. He thought they were safe until the rocks started coming down from above and he had to focus more of his energy on dodging the rocks.

"Why are you asking me!?" snapped Sandstream. "I have no idea!" She yowled in pain as a smaller rock smashed against her shoulder knocking her to the ground.

"Sandstream!" yelled Flameclaw struggling to get to her side but the rocks were falling too fast and furious for him to get close. He gritted his teeth and began running away from Sandstream, the rocks were now fully focused on him. After he was a good length away he twisted his body and ran towards the water. Maybe he could escape them by swimming away.

When his paws touched the water however, something jumped out of it and latched onto his back. Yowling in pain he lifted up onto back paws and fell backwards. Whatever was on his back released in shock and Flameclaw ran out of the water. A small rock clipped his side but it wasn't enough to make him fall.

He began running towards the forest instead but something stepped out of it making him stop dead in his tracks. In the rising sunlight he saw it was a muscular cat. The morning light shone off his pelt and seemed to make his green eyes sparkle with greater intensity. However the one thing that made him stop was the way the cat looked.

It seemed like the cat had the same expression that he did. He was purely shocked. Flameclaw wondered if the sunlight was bouncing off his fur the same way it was on this cat's.

"Who are you?" spoke the cat. His tone was neither frightened nor welcoming. It was strangely neutral.

Flameclaw took a deep breath and stood up tall. "My name is Flameclaw," he spoke, "Flightwing sent me. And…I am your son."


	16. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14.**

"Son?" repeated the tom slowly, rolling the words off his tongue. He shook his head. "What are you talking about? And how do you know about Flightwing?" His neutral eyes and body stance was suddenly on guard.

Flameclaw' eyes widen. That was not good. "Wait!" he said quickly. Flightwing had told him that this cat-Firewind had the ability to spit out fire. Flameclaw did not want to have to face that power head on. "Flightwing. She's a brown she-cat with wings. She told me to come here to warn you. My mother. My mother is Spottedclaw. I'm from Flameclan."

Right before his eyes Firewind seem to deflate. "Your mother is Spottedclaw…" He seemed troubled. "I didn't think-"

A yowl from the beach made Firewind and Flameclaw turn. "Oh no," whispered Flameclaw, recognizing it. "Sandstream!" He turned away from his father and ran to the sound of the voice.

He saw Sandstream standing up in a fighting stance. Surrounding her were two cats, a brown tabby she-cat and a blue gray tom while a cinder pelted she-cat stood nearby.

"Leave her alone!" yelled Flameclaw running over. He ran in between the cats and stood in front of Sandstream. From the description that Flightwing gave him these cats were Auraclaw, Scalefur and Cinderstream. And from what happened with Sandstream before they were not happy to see her.

"Who in Starclan are you?" snapped Scalefur. Flameclaw just stared at Scalefur's neck where he knew the gills were. It was difficult to see but Flameclaw thought he saw them pushed against Scalefur's neck.

"And why are you here?" asked Auraclaw. "Are you here to kill us again?"

Cinderstream didn't say anything but look on. She used to be a medicine cat so she probably couldn't deal with the interrogation.

"We aren't here for anything like that," protested Flameclaw.

Auraclaw's eyes turned to him. Flameclaw yowled in fear as her eyes glazed over and he felt his body pushed to the ground of its own accord. Auraclaw's power.

"Leave him out of this," spat Sandstream angrily. She stepped in front of Flameclaw and the pressure on him decreased. "He is here for a different reason than me."

"Why should we believe that?" snapped Auraclaw. "In case you forgotten, you brainwashed your own kit and made her control that herd of animals to kill us!"

"Please calm down Auraclaw," said Cinderstream quietly. "Getting riled up like this is not good after that injury."

"I'm fine. You healed me and I'm alright," she replied to the medicine cat before returning her attention to Sandstream.

"Wait."

Flameclaw almost feel over in shock as his father walked down the beach. He stopped before the group. "That one," he gestured to Flameclaw with his tail. "He said Flightwing has a message for us."

Flameclaw was a bit annoyed that Firewind referred to him in that way but he let it go. This was no time for that.

"From Flightwing?" Cinderstream stepped forward. "W…What is it? We haven't dreamed with her in them for a long time."

Flameclaw had forgotten that Cinderstream was Flightwing's littermate. "She said…" He took a deep breath before launching into his tale. He explained everything the best he could. From the incident with Waterstar telling him he was a special to finding out Milkpaw was one and was being taught by a follower of Risingdawn. And how they were coming for the other specials for their powers. When Flameclaw was done, his voice was dry and hoarse but he didn't care. The specials had listened to him attentively.

"This…this might be a problem," said Scalefur.

Auraclaw glanced over at Firewind and put her tail on her friend's shoulder. "It's not your fault," she whispered.

"But it is," spat Firewind. "If I had not done anything that day then this…this would never have happened. We could live in peace here."

"But what about him?" asked Auraclaw gesturing to Flameclaw. "If you didn't do it then this kit would have been born either."

Flameclaw could see that his father was torn. Flameclaw could understand. Flightwing had explained it all to him. How specials were not allowed to have kits. Having kits was considered to be one of the biggest taboos, even bigger than medicine cats having kits. But it still hurt for Firewind to reject him.

"Hang on," spoke up Scalefur, "That explains why Flameclaw is here but what about you?"

Sandstream stepped forward. "I'm here because I need to see my son."

The four specials immediately tensed.

"I do not want to hurt him or take him away," she continued, "I just want to talk to him."

"What makes you so sure he would want to talk to you?" replied Cinderstream.

"I know he hates me," said Sandstream, "But please, just let me talk to him!" She stepped forward, her eyes filled with emotions. "Even if he doesn't forgive me, I don't care. I just want him to know… to know that…" Her body shook and she lowered her head. It was the first time Flameclaw had seen her look so defeated. He had always thought she was strong but this…this made her seem so vulnerable.

"Well Cinderstream?" asked Firewind, "Shall we grant this request?"

"What?" Sandstream looked up in shock. "Why…why does the medicine cat need to decide this?"

Cinderstream calmly watched Sandstream. "Well, because I am his aunt after all."

Sandstream seemed to freeze in place. Flameclaw's eyes widen. What? What did this mean? "What are you talking about?" asked Sandstream. "You can't be his aunt. He's…he's half Treeclan."

Cinderstream shook her head. "That's where you're wrong. You Sandstream, are pure Nightclan. Our father, Applemind gave you, a newborn kit to his friend, the special of Treeclan so she could be like a mother as well. You are the daughter of Applemind and Grayfang. Your siblings are Lilystar, myself and Flightwing."

Sandstream's eyes widen and she collapsed to a sitting position. "What? I can't be…I was…I was Treeclan deputy. Only a pure Treeclanner can do that…"

"I'm sorry that our father did that to you," whispered Cinderstream. "He says he regrets doing it to you."

A scent filled Flameclaw's nose. A familiar scent. Cinderstream stiffened. The group slowly turned to see Hazelpaw and Twilight walking towards them. They froze as well after they saw the group

Cinderstream stepped forward. "T…Twilight," she whispered. There was something else in her voice that Flameclaw couldn't identify. Was it…was it love?

Hazelpaw on the other paw had another emotion on his face. Fear?

"Hazelpaw," Sandstream stepped forward. "You're here."

The fear disappeared from Hazelpaw's face, replaced by anger. "Stay away from me!" he snarled, electricity dancing on his pelt.


	17. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15.**

Flameclaw

Flameclaw backed up a step. Seeing Hazelpaw's power from up close was terrifying. The electricity danced on his pelt and crackled in the air. His eyes blazed in anger.

Sandstream hesitated but she swallowed slowly and stepped forward. "Hazelpaw. Please listen to me."

"No!" snarled Hazelpaw. He shook his head violently. "I cannot! You…what you did to Nightspeaker and me. And what about Silverwing? Remember him? You killed him because he helped me escape from you!"

"I know. I know," yowled Sandstream. She shook her head but still stepped closer to her son. "But please. I…I know I did something horrible to you and your sister but I…I want to make it up to you!"

Flameclaw's heart went out to Sandstream. He couldn't stand to see her like this. He begged to Starclan in his heart. He begged forgiveness for his friend.

However it didn't seem Hazelpaw agreed with Flameclaw. "Just stay away from me," he snarled. "I won't hesitate to hurt you."

Sandstream stopped in her steps, her expression showing distraught. "So," she said sadly. "There is no way you can trust me. I understand.' Sandstream's head lowered.

Twilight gave a sharp yap. Everyone turned to him. Twilight looked around. He looked at the specials in joy. "I…I remember. I remember everything."

"Twilight!" yowled Cinderstream. The she-cat raced towards the fox and buried her face into his fur.

Flameclaw blinked in shock by the she-cat's reaction. Wasn't she a medicine cat?

"Those two share a special bond," spoke Auraclaw. Her brown eyes twinkled as she looked at Flameclaw.

"But wasn't a medicine cat?"

"And he's a fox," replied Auraclaw. "What can you say about a relationship like that? They know they can never truly be together. Plus Cinderstream gave up being a medicine cat when she joined up with us."

"Let's go hunt," said Firewind quietly. "Scalefur. Hazelpaw. Come with me you two. Auraclaw."

"I know," replied the she-cat. "You don't have to say anything."

Flameclaw thought he could see something between the two cats. A close connection. Not love but trust between them.

Hazelpaw relaxed and the electricity on his fur dissipated as he followed the two toms thus leaving Flameclaw with Sandstream, Twilight, Auraclaw and Cinderstream.

"Why don't we give them some privacy," suggested Auraclaw. "They have a lot of catching up to do."

"I agree," said Flameclaw eyeing the cat and fox. Cinderstream was lying down and Twilight was resting his head on her back. His eyes were closed but he seemed to be listening to whatever Cinderstream was saying.

Sandstream nodded to show she had heard.

Auraclaw turned and began walking up the beach. Flameclaw hung back until he was walking next to Sandstream. He had never seen the she-cat look so defeated before.

"Sandstream," he began.

"No," Sandstream said quietly as they made their way into the forest. "I understand why Hazelpaw hates me. I hurt him. He saw what had happened to his sister and I can understand that he hates what I have done. I hate what I did."

"He'll understand one day," said Auraclaw.

Flameclaw jumped. He hadn't realized that the brown tabby was sitting. She had heard the whole conversation. "I understand where you are coming from Sandstream," she spoke. "Remember? I knew you back in Treeclan. I know you are a good cat. You risked your life for the clan's sake."

Flameclaw could see why Flightwing had spoken so highly of Auraclaw. She was calm and collected and didn't seem to normally judge cats. She would make a good medicine cat or leader. At least that's what Flameclaw thought.

"Anyway. This is where we live," Auraclaw gestured with her tail to the clearing around them. Fallen logs were strewn throughout the clearing. By the way the logs were snapped it was probably a good guess that Auraclaw was behind them. "We each have a log where we sleep in but I can go in with Cinderstream so you two can have mine."

"We can't do that," protested Flameclaw.

"It's fine," replied Auraclaw. "I don't mind. Plus," she chuckled, "I don't think Cinderstream is going to sleep at all tonight. She's going to catch up with Twilight. There's no time to sleep. Now." Auraclaw turned her eyes to Flameclaw. "Want to tell me a bit about what is going on in the clans? Like births and such?"

Firewind

Firewnd padded back into the camp area with a large rabbit hanging from his jaw. Scalefur was carrying some fish while Hazelpaw had some voles. Firewind was not surprised to find Auraclaw talking to Sandstream and Flameclaw. It was about trivial things. Clan gossip, the changes in leaders and such.

Firewind could sense Hazelpaw tense up next to him but there was nothing Firewind could do about that. Instead he approached the three cats and dropped the rabbit before Sandstream. The she-cat glanced at him in surprise.

"Don't worry about Hazelpaw," he said, "He just needs time. Is Twilight with Cinderstream?" The question was directed at Auraclaw.

"Yes," she replied. "I don't think they'll be back anytime soon. Thanks Hazelpaw."

Hazelpaw, who had given her a vole just nodded and gave the other one to Flameclaw before giving Sandstream a wide berth to sit near his log nest.

Scalefur sat down with his pile of fish and offered one to Firewind and Hazelpaw before eating himself. "I just love fish," said the silver tom happily. "I don't understand why they won't eat it all the time."

"We are not Streamclan cats," replied Firewind settling down. His eyes met his son's. They were the color of Spottedclaw and a longing for the spotted she-cat. He hated himself for having weakness like that. He was the leader of the specials. He was the role model for the others and yet he was the weak one. He was the one that gave in to his desires to be with her.

"Don't beat yourself up over it."

Firewind looked up to Auraclaw's soothing brown eyes. Like always she was there for him. She didn't have to have powers to know what Firewind was thinking. Firewind nodded to Auraclaw gratefully before turning to the rest of the group. This was no time to wallow in self pity.

"How much longer do you think we have until Milkpaw arrives?" asked Firewind.

Flameclaw shook his head. "I don't know. Flightwing did say it would take him longer until he finds us because he doesn't know where you are but…I don't know."

"We should wait for him and rip him apart," said Hazelpaw quietly, eyeing his mother. "From what it sounds like, he deserves it."

"But if Flameclaw says it's true, he will absorb our powers," spoke up Scalefur. "Then what? A fire-water-breathing-telekinetic-thunder-healing cat. That will be a serious problem."

"We are going to need to kill him before he can absorb our powers," said Firewind. Before Firewind could say more, Cinderstream and Twilight burst into the clearing. They were breathing heavily.

"I caught a scent on the wind," said Twilight through pants. "It was the scent of Flameclan. Of Milkpaw."


	18. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Flameclaw

Flameclaw stiffened. It couldn't be. Not yet. How could he be here already? He…he didn't have anytime to talk to his father. Auraclaw did speak about him but Flameclaw wanted to hear things out of his father's own mouth.

"Could you tell how far the scent was?" asked Firewind.

Twilight shook his head. "No. I couldn't tell where the scent was coming from. But I could smell it. He's coming this way and he's coming fast."

"Foxdung," spat Scalefur. "Whoops. Sorry Twilight."

"Don't worry about it. I'm more of a cat than a fox. Plus, I use that curse myself."

"Our reputation in the area is what's driving him towards us," said Firewind grimly.

Auraclaw must have noticed Flameclaw's questioning look for she explained. "We've been helping out the cats in the area. And because of that the animal species in the area knows about our powers. Milkpaw could just have asked a cat and they would have told him if he said it correctly."

"What should we do about this?" asked Cinderstream, a hint of fear in her voice. She moved closer to Twilight and pressed her brown fur against his red.

"What can we do is the question," said Hazelpaw as he glanced at the group of cats. His eyes never met his mother's.

"Let me help," said Sandstream. All eyes turned to her except for Hazelpaw. "I need to make up for what I did. Please. Give me the chance to help."

"Do you have a plan?" asked Firewind.

"What!" Hazelpaw cried. His tail flicked behind him with anger and Firewind thought he could see sparks dancing on his gray fur. "Firewind! You can't be serious! She can't be trusted! She can't be! She…she's responsible for the Great Battle! She twisted Nightspeaker and was involved in the deaths of many clan cats. How can you trust her after all that."

"Hazelpaw," said Firewind coldly. Hazelpaw froze. Flameclaw didn't blame him. Firewind's green eyes were colder than ice. It left no room to debate. "In case you forgot, she is your mother. If she had not done what she did then you might not even be here. Remember that. Even if she was horrible to you, she is still your mother."

Flameclaw thought there was something else behind the words. The way he said them. It sounded personal. Did something happen to his mother?

"Now," Firewind turned to Sandstream. "What do you have in mind?"

Flightwing

"That can't be true!" cried Flightwing.

"Sorry but it is," said Skypelt.

Flightwing was sitting in a stretch of forest. Like everywhere else in this dead world, the sky was lit up by a weird night with light like the sun. Before her were the group of specials that had decided to travel with the alive specials to a new home. Some hadn't want anything to do with Starclan anymore and wanted to get away while others like Nightspeaker had come along because cats they trusted were going.

"What can we do?" asked Shadepaw. She shivered. "Mindclaw is probably coming here."

Brightsky placed her tail on the smaller cat's shoulder. "Don't worry," she said. "If he does, we'll just attack him and tear him apart enough that he won't be able to heal for a long long time!"

"That's probably all we can do," said Wingtorn grimly. "We don't have a Dark Forest or anything like that to throw him in."

Skypelt got to his paws. "Let's get started. Right Flightwing?"

The brown she-cat nodded. "Right." She turned in the direction she thought Mindclaw would come from and stretched her wings. "While they are fighting Milkpaw we will take care of Mindclaw!"

Sandstream

The ocean roared as it hit the beach and receded and did it again. The moonlight lit up the beach in stunning clarity. The she-cat looked out at the waves, the light wind buffing her fur. This was her plan. This was hers. Relax. She had chosen it. She closed her eyes and she could still see Hazelpaw's stricken expression about this plan.

The sound of beating wings shook her out of her thoughts and she turned to face Milkpaw. He was more impressive in person than how Flameclaw described him. His white fur seemed to be made from moonlight and the black wings coming out of his back contrasted his fur perfectly. The only thing that was off was his green eyes.

"Where are they?" he asked.

"Who are you talking about?" asked Sandstream lightly. "There's only me on this little beach."

"Don't mess with me," sneered Milkpaw. He stepped closer to Sandstream until if anycat was looking at them it would seem like they were in love. However it was anything but that. "You don't know what I can do to you, what I can do to make you suffer."

"Oh really?" said Sandstream. Her voice was still light. "You have wings. Big deal."

Milkpaw's eyes flashed in pure hatred and he slammed his paw against Sandstream's head. The older she-cat was knocked to the sand. Blood was beginning to leak out of a small wound but she looked up at Milkpaw just in time to see the wings he had recede into his body until they were completely gone.

Sandstream's eyes narrowed and she let off a battle yowl and launched herself towards Milkpaw. He would pay. He would pay for thinking of hurting her son.

She never made it.

When his eyes locked onto hers, she felt tremendous pain coarse through her body. She didn't know which way was up. She no longer knew who she was. She didn't know anything but pain. Bones cracked and broken. She could not scream. Her world was pain and that was it.

As fast as it came it was gone. Sandstream opened her eyes slowly and the first thing she saw was the fact that she on the ground. The last thing she saw was the expression on her son's face from the trees by the beach.


	19. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17.**

Flameclaw

Flameclaw was horrified.

Sandstream, his friend was lying dead on the ground. There was nothing wrong with her on the outside but Flameclaw had a feeling that inside she was destroyed. He glared at his brother. Milkpaw was looking down on Sandstream's body in boredom.

"You're going to wish you've never done that," snarled Flameclaw. Of course Milkpaw could not hear him for Flameclaw was using his power.

"Pathetic," spoke Milkpaw. He pushed Sandstream's body with one of his paws. "And here I thought they would put up more of a fight than this."

"Don't touch her!" yowled Flameclaw. He pushed off with his back legs and dove for his brother. However he was only a spirit so all he did was pass through Milkpaw.

Milkpaw's ears flicked and he dove to the right as a huge piece of stone came flying at him. Flameclaw yowled in fear but the stone flew through him. Oh StarClan. This power of him might kill him out of fear.

The orange tom's eyes shifted to the forest. More pieces of rock were flying towards Milkpaw, courtesy of Auraclaw. "Get him!" yowled Flameclaw, wishing he could do more. However all he could do was cheer Auraclaw on and hope she would be able to teach this piece of foxdung a lesson.

Hazelpaw

Hazelpaw stood frozen in his hiding spot. The way his mother's body had convulsed showed how much pain she had been in. But why? Why did she do it? She had to have known something like this would have happened. Why did she do it?

"Hazelpaw," hissed Firewind in the young cat's ear.

The cat flinched and turned to the leader of the specials. His green eyes were a mix of sorrow and confusion. "I don't understand," he whispered. "Why did she do it?"

Firewind locked eyes on the younger cat. "Understand this Hazelpaw. She did it for you. She did it for the son that refused to forgive her. She did it so we could understand what was going on here. She did it for your and yours alone Hazepaw."

The orange tom turned away. "Auraclaw. Can you keep going?"

The tabby's eyes were glazed over and rocks were floating around her that she kept throwing at Milkpaw. A flick of her tail was the only signal that she even heard Firewind. Scalefur was right next to the she-cat giving her slight directions to the direction Milkpaw had dodged to. Twilight and Cinderstream were not here. They were deeper in the forest playing bodyguard to Flameclaw's body in case Milkpaw was able to recruit more cats to do his bidding.

"Hazelpaw," Firewind turned back to the young tom. "I know you want to grieve but this is no time. We need your help. If we don't stop Milkpaw-"

"I know," replied Hazelpaw quietly. "I understand." He looked up at his older friend; his eyes were now filled with rage. Rage for the cat that had brutally killed his mother. Sorrow would not do here. In his brief time in Nightclan, he knew the way of the warrior code. He knew what he needed to do as the only living member of his family. "Let's get him."

Flightwing

A screech tore the air and shook Flightwing to her core. The brown she0cat whipped around and flew towards Shadepaw who was getting attacked by a black tom. She didn't understand where these cats had come from. She had thought they had only needed to fight Mindclaw. However Flightwing was wrong.

The small group of specials were fighting a horde of cats. Skypelt, who had recognized one of the cats, revealed that the cats were from the Dark Forest back home.

Flightwing couldn't believe they would do something like this. Mindclaw was cunning. He had gotten help from the vile cats that would probably help him to be free of the Dark Forest.

The she-cat broke out of her thoughts and flew towards the screeching Shadepaw. She clamped her claws on the black tom's back and flew upwards until he released Shadepaw. Her claws felt like they were going to break off but this was the realm of the dead. This place was not normal at all. She dove to the left and threw the black tom off Shadepaw before dropping to the ground next to the younger cat.

"Are you alright?" she asked as she scanned the open field of fighting warriors. Shadepaw was probably the youngest cat here and because of that she was a target to attacks.

"I'm fine," replied Shadepaw. "It's just…the emotions here are wild. They have a vicious bloodlust and want revenge." The small brown she-cat shivered. "It's horrible."

"Flightwing!"

Brightsky used claws made of light to slice a she-cat that was sneaking up on the two specials. The exotic-looking she-cat turned to the two specials. "No time to be talking. We have to keep fighting."

"Yeah."

Sandstream jumped off a gray tom and padded over to the specials. The pale ginger she-cat looked around. "You know, when I died I thought I would get a break, not fight in another battle."

"Sorry."

Sandstream looked at Flightwing funny. "Honestly. Did Flameclaw's timid nature wear off on you?" She hissed in annoyance as a group of Dark Forest cats attacked the little group. "We'll have a discussion later," she said angrily as she dove towards the cats.

_"Be strong,"_ thought Flightwing as she lifted up into the air to battle these cats. While they fought up here, the alive specials were also fighting. She knew their job was much harder than what Flightwing had to deal with. _"None of you have better come up here,_" she thought angrily as she swung her claws and used her teeth in battle.


	20. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18.**

Auraclaw

Auraclaw's head hurt. This was the longest she had ever had to use her power. She shook her head trying to get the headache to go away. This was a good time to have Cinderstream around.

"I can't believe this," said Scalefur. "He's been dodging all of our attacks like their nothing."

Auraclaw had to agree. She had thrown rocks at Milkpaw but he dodged every single one. And unfortunately he had honed in on the spot where the rocks were coming from. That had forced the group to scatter in different directions. Auraclaw and Scalefur one way and Firewind and Hazelpaw the other. And it make matters worse it had begun to rain. Not a gentle drizzle but a downpour.

"What do we do now?" asked Scalefur. With the rain making his fur stick to his sides and his gills he looked more like a fish now then ever before.

"We have to meet up with the others or find Milkpaw and attackhim," replied Auraclaw. She sounded so much surer than what she felt. She was worried for the others. What if Milkpaw got their powers? Then what?

"Auraclaw?" asked Scalefur. His blue eyes were full of worry. "We'll stop him right? We won't let anything bad happen right?"

Auraclaw wished she could be so sure. In fact she wished she could lie to Scalefur and tell him it would happen. She couldn't. It would be a lie. She had spent long enough with Scalefur that he would know if she was lying to him. "We'll figure it out," she replied. "We won't let the Great Battle or the battle of the Cursed Forest happen again. I promise you that."

Scalefur nodded. "Alright." He shook his head and put on his brave face. "Let's go get him."

Flameclaw

Flameclaw couldn't believe what had just happened. Milkpaw had figured out the location of the specials and was walking towards them when they had scattered in different directions. Milkpaw had blinked slowly and the black wings from before had erupted out of his back and he had flown into the forest, probably to look for them with a bird's eye view.

Flameclaw angrily looked at the ground, towards the body of his friend. Sandstream died for them. She did this so the specials would know what to do against Milkpaw. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry we couldn't do more for you. I hope…I hope you go to StarClan so we may meet again."

Flameclaw ran up the beach and into the forest. He had to return to his body so he could warn Cinderstream and Twilight. What if Milkpaw got to them before he did?

Flameclaw quickly made his way through the forest. He kept looking up to try to spot a flash of white in the breaks of the trees. Where did Milkpaw go?

Hearing a noise he skidded to a stop. Out of the trees came Firewind and Hazelpaw. Firewind was half-dragging Hazelpaw along by the scruff. The pale gray tom looked distraught. Well it did make sense. His mother was killed in front of him.

"Come on Hazelpaw," snapped Firewind when he released Hazelpaw. "You were alright before."

"That was before Milkpaw realized where we were," replied Hazelpaw. He shook his head. "Milkpaw is much stronger than we thought."

"He killed your mother," snarled Firewind. "What more do you need?"

Flameclaw shivered. At that moment his father looked more ferocious than the bear that had attacked Flameclan.

"I know," replied Hazelpaw grimly. "Starclan, I know. I know. But this is different. It's much-"

"Help!"

Cinderstream burst into the clearing area. The she-cat was breathing heavily and a line of claw marks ran down her right flank. Flameclaw's eyes widen. Cinderstream had the power to heal. What could have happened that she didn't have the time to heal her own injuries?

"What's wrong?" asked Firewind. He was tense. "Did something happen to Twilight?"

Cinderstream shook his head. "It was Milkpaw." She shivered. "He came out of the sky and attacked us. He knocked Twilight out by landing on him and I was barely able to get away with only these minor wounds. I didn't want to heal them in front of him. He…when he saw I wasn't a threat, he went over to Flameclaw and lifted the body up by the scruff and flew away with him. I don't know how he did it, but he did."

Flameclaw was cold. His body was currently in Milkpaw's paws. What was he to do? Should he return to his body? What would happen if he did?

"We need to go after him," said Firewind. "Which way did he go?"

"That direction," Cinderstream pointed in the direction.

Firewind stiffened and Hazelpaw said, "Oh Starclan."

Cinderstream seemed to understand what was going on for she said, "Oh no. Flameclaw."

Flameclaw couldn't stand it anymore. He ran.

His paws smacked the ground; the trees were not an obstacle for him. He just passed through them. He had to hurry. He had to. The ground sloped upwards and it slowed Flameclaw down but he kept pushing on. In this form he never got tired. He never got hungry. He would be alright. He reached the top of the hill and gasped in horror.

A mudslide was moving down the other side of the hill. "What is this?" he whispered. Over the roar of the mud slide, Flameclaw for some reason could hear the sound of beating wings. He looked up and yowled.

Milkpaw.

Milkpaw was flying above the mud slide, Flameclaw's body dangling limply in his jaw. "NO!" yelled Flameclaw as Milkpaw released Flameclaw's scruff.


	21. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19. The final chapter of Demon Clans 5. Demon Clans 6 will hopefully be out by next week at the latest.**

Flameclaw

"NO!" yowled Flameclaw. He watched his body fall into the mud slide in slow motion. His body hit it and disappeared into the mud. Overhead, Milkpaw had a smug expression and he flew back in the direction of the other specials. Flameclaw didn't care about him at the moment. His body was in a mudslide. He dove into the mudslide but he found it was very deep and he sunk to the bottom. Mud and other debris floated around him but he couldn't see much. How was he supposed to find his body at this rate? He had to try though. No matter what, he had to try!

Firewind

Firewind's paws smashed the ground with lightening speed. Anyone looking at him would think his power would be speed. Behind him was Hazelpaw. Cinderstream had run to find the others to tell them the new devolpment. Firewind gritted his teeth. His son was going to be killed by the mudslide!

This whole thing was his fault. If he hadn't given in to Spottedclaw that day, Milkpaw would never have been born and this…this would never have happened.

Firewind stopped in his tracks when he heard the beating of wings overhead. He looked up and hissed as Milkpaw landed before the two toms.

"Where's Flameclaw?" spat Firewind angrily.

"Dead by now I suppose," replied Milkpaw. He folded his wings and they seemed to disappear into his back. "Throwing a cat into a mudslide should do that."

Firewind's eyes widen and he hissed. "You are going to regret that."

Hazelpaw hurried forward and held his tail out to stop Firewind from attacking. "Be careful," he warned.

Firewind shook Hazelpaw away. "Hazelpaw. I can understand why you don't seem to care about your mother dying. She was never a mother to you until the last moment but Flameclaw was my kit. He traveled all the way here to warn us to stop him. I cannot let this cat escape after killing him!"

Milkpaw seemed very amused by Firewind's anger. He chuckled. "So this is what my father is? From what Mindclaw told me, he said you were very calm and level-headed." He flicked his tail. "Guess I was wrong."

"You are going to regret everything you did Milkpaw," spat Firewind. He stepped forward. He could feel the fire welling up inside of him. He wanted to release it all and burn Milkpaw away. Even the rain that splattered down from the sky wouldn't be able to put out the flames. He would do it. It didn't matter that Milkpaw was his own kit. No. Milkpaw was no kit of his. Milkpaw was one of Risingdawn's followers. There was no way a cat like that could be his.

Milkpaw chuckled. "Oh really?" he sneered. "Want to try?"

"Firewind," said Hazelpaw. "Don't use your power. You'll just give another power to use."

Firewind hated to admit it but Hazelpaw was right. If Firewind used his power and it didn't kill Milkpaw in one blow then Milkpaw would have the power to spit fire. That would make it more troublesome for them.

"What is it?" asked Milkpaw. "You're hesitating." His eyes widened. "I know. You're frightened of me or you don't know how to fight without those flashy powers."

Firewind knew Milkpaw was pushing him. He was trying to get Firewind to use his power. But he couldn't give in .He would have to fight like a normal warrior.

A yowl came from behind him and then Firewind felt a searing pain on his back. He twisted his body around to see Hazelpaw backing away. Firewind's blood was on his claws. At first Firewind was confused to what was going on and then he knew. He twisted back to Milkpaw. The tom's focus was on Hazelpaw. He was using mind control on Hazelpaw!

"Firewind!" yowled Hazelpaw.

Firewind turned back and ducked in time as Hazelpaw's claws swept over his head. Firewind backed out of the reach of Hazelpaw's claws but the pale gray tom followed him. As Hazelpaw attacked, Firewind noticed something. Even though Milkpaw was controlling him, Hazelpaw seemed to be consciously aware of what he was doing and he was resisting. This was different from Nightspeaker who could control a cat without the cat's will interfering at all. Did this mean that although Milkpaw could control a cat, he didn't have the same intensity as Nightspaker? That meant that Milkpaw was weaker in power compared to the real thing. That was interesting to know. But now he had the problem of stopping Milkpaw from controlling Hazelpaw to begin with.

Auraclaw

Auraclaw and Scalefur were speeding towards the mudslide. Cinderstream had found them and explained what happened before running off to check on Twilight. The rain poured down and made the progress slow but the two specials were running as fast as they could.

"Do you think Flameclaw will be alright?" asked Scalefur as they ran side by side.

"I don't know," replied Auraclaw grimly. This reminded her of Flightwing's death. The brown she-cat had been thrown into the river and she had died from drowning before Scalefur and Auraclaw could rescue her. Why was it happening again? Why did another cat, a special, have to die?

Yowls came from ahead and the two specials slowed down and began creeping towards the sounds. As they peered out some bushes they saw Firewind fighting Hazelpaw. Well, it really was Hazelpaw attacking and Firewind dodging. Nearby was Milkpaw. His green eyes, ones that looked so much like Firewind's, were locked onto Hazelpaw. Auraclaw guessed he was using the mind control power.

"What do we do?" whispered Scalefur.

Auraclaw's eyes clouded over as the rocks around them began lifting off the ground. This time she would not miss. She focused all of her energy and flung the rocks towards Milkpaw.

Firewind

Firewind heard something whiz through the air. Hazelpaw's body was suddenly jerked away and he stood in front of Milkpaw and something smashed into the pale gray tom. Hazelpaw yowled in pain and collapsed on the ground.

Milkpaw's eyes shifted to the direction that the sound was coming from. Firewind was about to use the moment to attack Milkpaw when he heard an anguished scream of pain. Firewind's blood turned cold. He could recognize that voice. "Auraclaw!" he yowled. He angrily turned to Milkpaw and yowled in rage and dove at the tom.

Milkpaw calmly looked over at Firewind and his eyes clouded over. The dirt lifted off the ground and caught Firewind in the face and momentarily blinding him. He felt wind and when he recovered Milkpaw was in the sky with those black wings of his.

"Thank you for your powers," he replied smugly before flying away.

Firewind hissed but there was nothing he could do. The only one who could probably get him in the sky was Auraclaw. Suddenly he remembered her and after he checked on Hazelpaw(who was still alive and conscious, thank Starclan), he hurried over to the bushes where he heard the yowl from.

As he got closer, the smell of blood filled the air and dread filled him. Was Auraclaw alright? As he entered the bushes, Scalefur was standing there. He was talking quietly to Firewind and was blocking his view of her.

"What happened?" asked Firewind.

Scalefur looked back at Firewind. His eyes were wide in fear and sorrow. "I didn't mean to. My body moved on its own. I couldn't control myself."

"What happened?" repeated Firewind.

Scalefur miserably stepped to the side. Auraclaw's face was covered in blood. But it might have been a minor injury. Cinderstream told him that head injuries bled a lot more than normal.

"Firewind?" asked Auraclaw in a shaky voice. "Is that you? I thought I heard your voice." She lifted her head and Firewind could see the long claw marks running across her face. Over her eyes. Firewind felt horror rise within him. Auraclaw was blind.

Flightwing

Flightwing looked around the battlefield. It was now empty of all the enemy cats. They had retreated for some unknown reason. What troubled her was that Mindclaw had laughed as the Dark Forest cats ran away.  
"We didn't win this fight," said Skypelt grimly as he walked over. Like all of the cats of their little group, they all had injuries of some sort. They would heal in time but the memory of this battle probably wouldn't.

"I just checked on the alive cats," spoke Nightspaker. "Milkpaw escaped."

"It's a good thing they are all alive," said Flightwing.

Nightspeaker shook her head. "I don't know if it is. Auraclaw's blind."

Horror welled up within Flightwing. Auraclaw was blind? What did that mean? Oh Starclan. "Can Cinderstream heal her?"

"She tried," replied Nightspeaker. "She tried over and over but she could not return Auraclaw's eyes to her."

"Those despicable cats" spat Sandstream. She sported long claw marks all over her body but they didn't seem to bother her. "What could they be planning?"

"Whatever it is, we need to plan the next move," said Brightsky. "I have a feeling that Mindclaw and others went to get Risingdawn."

"We need to go back to the clans," said Flightwing. "They are going to need help against Risingdawn if they attack Starclan. And now that they have a powered up Milkpaw, I think they will." She noticed that a couple of the cats were looking back and forth between themselves. "I know many of you don't want to return to the clans but think about it. We can never be at peace until Risingdawn is taken care of."

"I agree," spoke up Shadepaw. She flinched as all cats looked at her. It was rare for her to speak at these meetings. "I mean, if Risingdawn does defeat Starclan then won't he come after us next? I mean, we are specials and we are a threat."

Murmurs of agreement rang up through the cats. Flightwing was proud of Shadepaw. She might be quiet but she did have a level head. "Everyone get some rest," she announced. "And then we will be on our way." Flightwing turned to Nightspeaker. "What about Flameclaw? Is he alright?"

Nightspeaker shook her head. "I don't know. His body was thrown into a mud slide so he should be dead but he hasn't come here yet."

"How is that possible?" asked Flightwing.

"I don't know," said Nightspeaker. "But we can't wait for him to join us."

Flightwing hated to admit it but Nightspeaker was right. Whatever happened to Flameclaw…they had no time to figure it out. Stopping Milkpaw was important. "I'm sorry Flameclaw," she whispered.

Flameclaw

Flameclaw watched as Firewind helped Auraclaw to her feet and began to lead her. In front of them were the other specials and Twilight. Twilight was crouched down and Auraclaw was being helped onto his back. They needed to move quickly.

Cinderstream watched them miserably. "Why couldn't I return her eyes to her?"

Hazelpaw put his tail on his aunt's shoulder. "Don't worry. Maybe one day your powers will be strong enough to do just that."

"I wish," said Cinderstream.

"I'm here!" yowled Flameclaw. However none could hear him. Flameclaw's body was buried under the mud slide. If he returned, Flameclaw knew he would die. He was too afraid to do that. He didn't want to die. He wanted to live some more.

"It's not your fault Scalefur," said Firewind.

The tom looked up miserably. "Yes it is. I was the one who blinded her."

"I don't blame you," said Auraclaw from Twilight's back. "It was not your fault. It was Milkpaw's."

"Let's get going before he gets too ahead of us," spoke Firewind. He made sure Auraclaw was securely on Twilight's back before walking to the front of the small group.

Flameclaw watched the specials and fox walk away. He wanted to run after them and yell at them to notice him. However he knew it was impossible. They would never be able to see him. What could he do now? Nothing. So he decided there was only one place left to go. Home.


End file.
